Worlds Apart
by poisonesse
Summary: The sequel to Finding A Home. It's time for Elena, Jake and the Cullens to take a trip to Mystic Falls- but not everything goes according to plan. When one race of vampire meets the other, what drama will unfold?
1. Welcome To Mystic Falls

**Worlds Apart. **

**Summary: In this exciting sequel to Finding A Home, Elena, Jacob and the Cullen's return to Mystic Falls for Elena's best friend Bonnie's birthday. But, of course, nothing goes to plan when one race of vampires meet another- then, when does it ever? Find out what happens.  
>^Wow. What a god-awful summary.<br>Enjoy! :)**

**Chapter 1. **

**Elena's POV. **

I sighed, gazing at the rain pattering against the window of the Cullen household. It was the day after graduation, meaning it was Saturday- which meant that today was the day that me, Jake, Bella and the Cullen clan paid a visit to Mystic Falls.

Why, oh why, did I agree to let them tag along?

Jake, I can accept- he is, after all, my Imprint and my love. But Bella and the Cullen's? _Why_? Why did they insist to come along?

Yeah, okay, so at the time it could have been to protect me in case Klaus came along, and it would have been acceptable. _But Klaus was gone now_. So, really, there was no need for them to come at all.

I loved them and all, and I was probably overreacting, but... this visit back home was supposed to be a special thing for me, and then a special thing for me and my boyfriend. Now? Not so much. Now it seemed like more of a family hiking trip to a town that happened to be my home.

… Yep, I was definitely overreacting.

I heard Edward chuckle and I jumped at the break in the silence, nearly falling off my suitcase, which I was perched on as we waited for Bella to get here. She was late, because she was still trying to persuade Charlie to let her go.

I scowled at Edward and his mind-reading skills, clutching Jake's hand even tighter. 'You know, you can see my reasoning for not wanting you guys to come.'

Rosalie made a face at me and Alice groaned.

'Not this _again_, Elena? Can you not just accept that we're coming with you?' the pixie-like vampire said.

I shrugged. 'I just don't see the point, that's all.'

'You're letting the dog come with you!' Emmett burst out, sinking back in his chair with a sheepish look when both me and Jake gave him a fierce, but slightly playful, glare. 'Sorry.' he added in a mutter.

'Yeah, well, I'm Jake's Imprint- we're going to be in Mystic Falls for the whole of the spring break- that's a full two weeks. I wouldn't be able to stand to be away from him for that long, and neither would he.' I reasoned.

Jasper snorted. 'Nice to see we mean so much to you compared to Jacob.'

I rolled my eyes and stuck my tongue out at him. 'You know what I mean. You guys know how important _you _are to me, too.'

'Of course, Elena.' Esme smiled comfortingly. 'You know we're just looking out for you by coming with you, don't you?'

I sighed. 'Yes. I'm sorry for being all melodramatic.'

Esme beamed and Edward laughed. Then the doorbell rang, Emmett muttered a _finally _and got a warning glare from Edward, and Carlisle bounded up to get the door. We all knew it would be Bella- who else would knock on the Cullen's door? Especially at this time in the morning...

She gave us all a friendly smile as she walkedin, carrying a large suitcase that was almost as large as mine. I raised a questioning eyebrow and she smiled sheepishly.

'Alice helped me pack.' she explained.

I nodded in understanding and felt a smile curve the corners of my lips upwards. Edward chuckled and Alice pouted before laughing lightly and springing up to her feet. Literally, she was like a coiled spring- always ready to bounce into action.

'Are we ready to leave, then?' Carlisle asked us all. The response was greatly exaggerated, really.

'Hell yeah!' Emmett grinned, punching the air. Rosalie looked at him calmly and slowly reached out and laid a hand on his arm, pulling it back down.

Alice grinned and danced around, pulling Jasper up to join him.

Edward smiled at Bella and squeezed her hand.

I had no idea they'd all been looking forward to this trip so much. I felt kind of bad for trying so hard to stop them- I'd been too selfish to consider that they _wanted _to come.

Ah, hell, I felt awful.

'Don't feel bad.' Edward grinned at me.

Jake squeezed my hand reassuringly, smiling softly at me. I responded in turn.

Then I turned to Carlisle. 'I think that means we're all ready.'

It was early in the morning- very early. I hadn't dared to look at the clock, but Jasper had told me that it was 5:30am. We wanted to get to Mystic Falls at a suitable time, after all. It would apparently take about two hours to get there. (**A/N: I have no idea how long it'd take- I don't know my geography, so let's just assume it'll take two hours.**)

'Wait a sec.' Jake said to me as the others left the room. I turned to him with a raised eyebrow, and he smiled, a little sheepishly. 'There's something I want you to have before we go.'

'Really?' I smiled warmly. 'What is it?'

He reached into his back pocket, and when his hand emerged, it was holding a small box. A _jewellry _box. I let out a small gasp when he opened it and offered me a ring. It was a beautiful ring- the charm was a beautifully carved silver wolf, with a face just like Jake's.

'Don't worry, I'm not proposing or anything.' he assured me quickly. 'I just wanted you to have something.'

'Thank you.' I breathed. I knew that to say that I can't accept it would be wrong- if he wanted me to have something, he wanted me to have it.

'It belonged to my mother.' he smiled.

…. 'Jake!' I gasped. 'Are you sure?'

'I want you to have it.' he urged, already sliding it onto my finger. He grinned up at me as I beamed at him. 'Perfect fit.'

'Jake, it's so beautiful.' I felt a lump in my throat as I pulled my Jake into a long kiss.

'Come on.' he said when we finally broke apart. 'Best not keep them waiting.'

'Right.' I breathed, still beaming.

So, within ten minutes, we were on the road and on our way to spend our two whole weeks of spring break in my home town.

Oh, what fun.

'That cloud looks like a-' Emmett started, but was cut off by an intense glare from Edward, who must have known what the burly vampire had been about to say. I chuckled, because it must have been obscene for Edward to not want it heard.

'Not in front of Bella.' the bronze-haired vampire warned, making us all laugh and making Bella blush a furious crimson.

'I'm not a baby.' she complained.

'You are to me.' Edward gave her a crooked smile and she sighed, but snuggled into him nonetheless. Because there were so many of us, we all had to be in separate cars- me, Jake, Emmett, Edward and Bella in Edward's car; Rosalie, Alice, Jasper, Esme and Carlisle in Rosalie's sleek red convertible.

'You feeling okay?' Jacob asked me again, and I rolled my eyes playfully, giving him a sweet smile.

'My answer will be the same as last time, Jake. I'm fine. Really.' I told him honestly, pecking him on the cheek. He grinned sheepishly.

'Sorry.'

'Don't apologize.' I cocked my head to the side, smirking. 'You're adorable when you're worrying.'

'_Gag_.' Emmett interrupted, making me laugh. I noticed Bella's smile waver, but at least she was nice enough to not, like, be mad or something. I sometimes caught her looking at Jake and me like she was missing out or something, but she never said anything, and neither did Edward. The two seemed to be very happy together anyway.

I smiled at them all and Bella said, 'Emmett, for god's sake, focus on the road. I don't want us all to get killed.'

'It's not that easy to kill a vampire, Bella.' Edward murmured to her, making her blush crimson again.

'You know what I mean.' she scowled. 'I don't want us three humans to get killed, at least.'

'I'm a vampire, Bells, chill. I can drive excellently with my eyes closed.' Emmett smirked.

Bella just rolled her eyes and didn't answer, burying her face in Edward's chest. I gave her a sympathetic smile and sighed, resting my head on my Jacob's shoulder.

'When will we get there?' I asked impatiently.

Emmett laughed his booming guffaw. 'Soon enough, kiddo.'

'Great.' I muttered. I stifled a yawn and closed my eyes, hoping to get a little sleep before we went to Mystic Falls.

However long later, my eyes fluttered open and the first thing that I noticed was that the skies had opened up, and sunlight was shining down on us. It made Edward and Emmett sparkle like diamonds when the rays hit them, and I had to admit, as strange as sparkling in the sunlight was... it was quite pretty.

I moved my head off of Jake's shoulder groggily and realised that if it was so sunny now, considering the bad weather in Forks, that we must be far away from the rainy little town we'd left from.

'Where are we now?' I asked Emmett excitedly.

I saw him roll his eyes and grin in the car mirror. 'We just passed the _Welcome To Mystic Falls_ sign. Welcome back.'

I laughed. 'As much as I'm glad I came to Forks, I have to admit, it feels kind of good to be back.'

'That's because we're with you.' Jake winked, planting a delicate kiss on my forehead.

'That's definitely a part of it.' I murmured lovingly, smiling up at him before watching all the buildings rush by as we drove.

'There's the grill!' I pointed out excitedly. 'Oh, my god, we have to go there first- it's great, and there'll probably be a bunch of people there!'

I sounded like the biggest, most stupid dork in the world, but I didn't care. I was freaking excited.

Edward laughed. 'Elena, it's hardly 7:30 in the morning. I doubt there _will _be many people in there.'

I pursed my lips. 'Okay, fine.' then something hit me. 'Where are we going to stay?'

Emmett and Edward exchanged a look, then they looked back to me. 'You and Jacob can stay with your aunt, and the rest of us can stay at the local hotel.' Edward said.

I frowned. 'Are you sure? There are plenty of guest rooms-'

'No, really, it's okay. Besides, I doubt your aunt and brother will want a bunch of vampires living with her.'

I grinned. 'You're probably right. She'd freak- if she ever found out.'

We spent the remaining five minutes of the drive discussing the things we'd do, with excitement plain and clear in each of our voices.

'Can you guys even drink alcohol?' I asked after Emmett's exclamation about how he was going to get wasted with Rosalie on his first night.

'Yes, we can.' Edward said dubiously. 'Though _some of us_,' he glared playfully at Emmett, ''tend to abuse that privilege. I don't know why- it doesn't even taste that good to us.'

Emmett shrugged, turning a sharp left on the road that I recognised as the one that led up to my Aunt Jenna's house.

'We'll drop you two off first, give you time to unpack while we do the same, and then we'll drop by again so you can show us around. Deal?' Emmett said.

'Deal.' I grinned.

'Sounds okay to me.' Jake muttered. I knew he wasn't best pleased that the Cullen's were coming with us, but he was going to deal with it- for me. He was honestly too good a boyfriend to be true.

So, in ten minutes, they had left, being followed by the vampires in Rosalie's car, and me and Jake were sipping coffee while making conversation with Jenna and Jeremy.

'Welcome back!' Jenna greeted with a huge, warm smile.

I grinned and threw my arms around her in a hug. 'I missed you.' I told her sincerely. I _had _missed her, as I'd missed everyone. I'd even kind of missed Stefan. But not much, though. I doubted I would be paying _him _a visit any time soon.

Then Jeremy had rushed into the room wearing his excited grin and hugged me for a few seconds before apparently realising that Jake was in the room and stepping back, eyeing my shape-shifter boyfriend wearily.

'So, who's this?' he asked, his voice suddenly hostile.

I rolled my eyes. Boys and their testosterones. 'This is my _boyfriend_, Jacob Black. Jake, this is my Aunt Jenna and my brother, Jeremy Gilbert.' I smiled. Jake offered his hand to Jeremy, and my brother reluctantly shook it. Jenna gave him another big smile and made us some coffee, telling us to sit down so we can talk.

Jake gave me an amused smile, probably at my brother's protective antics, and pulled a chair out for me. I giggled and sat down, taking his hand as he did the same.

'So. You have another boyfriend.' Jenna observed, and I blushed. I hoped she didn't mean that the way it sounded... I gave her a meaningful glance and her eyes instantly widened as she realised what she'd said. 'I don't mean that Elena has _many _boyfriends, just- just that.. she's had one or two before you...'

Jake laughed. 'It's okay, I know what you mean.'

I cringed. 'Yes, Jake is my boyfriend. Remember, Jeremy, I told you about him?'

Jeremy nodded, smirking. 'Soul-mated for life, apparently.'

I glared at him, but Jenna didn't think he meant anything other than that we were so in love we- correctly- thought we were soul-mates.

'It's nice to see you've moved on, Elena.' she grinned.

'How are you and Alaric?' I asked her, sipping my coffee.

She paused before replying, 'Okay, I guess. He's so secretive all the time.'

I reached my hand out and squeezed hers sympathetically. 'You know how guys are. Just give him time and he'll open up.'

I knew how untrue my words were- if I could help it, Alaric would never tell Jenna about the secrets he'd been keeping. It was far too risky to tell her about the world of the supernatural right now.

But then again, it seems like she'd be a lot happier if Alaric was honest with her... oh, I don't know. Maybe it will slip out, somehow.

'I hope so.' Jenna said dubiously, pursing her lips before smirking at us. 'So. How long exactly have you two been dating?'

I glanced at Jake when he answered, 'Since the day after Elena came to Forks.' he smiled softly at the memory and my grip on his hand tightened somewhat.

There was a small gasp from Jenna. 'So soon? There must have been some pretty intense sparks.' she mused, almost sounding wistful.

I chuckled. 'You could say that.'

I saw Jake looking at the clock and realised we'd better get unpacking before the Cullen's got back.

'We should head up and unpack.' I announced.

'It was lovely meeting you two. Thanks a lot for letting us stay, too.' Jake grinned at my brother and aunt.

'It's our pleasure. We're just so glad that you came back to visit, Elena, and you even bought your new friends.' Jenna smiled.

'Did you bring the _people_ you're living with, too?' Jeremy asked, eyeing me cautiously. I cringed when I realised that I'd told Jenna the Cullen's were coming, but I hadn't told Jeremy. I was pleased with how well Jenna had taken it that I wasn't living in the hotel any more.

'Yes, I did. Sorry I didn't tell you.' a sly grin crossed my face. 'And hey, Jer, it's nice to see that you're out of bed so early just to greet us. It means a lot.'

He smirked. 'Well, you know me.'

I laughed. 'I do, little brother, I do. Could you do us a favour and tell Bonnie and Caroline that we're here? I have no idea how we'd keep it a secret from Stefan and all, but I'd prefer it if you didn't tell him that I was back.' I smiled at them before pulling Jake by the hand up to my room.

He raised an eyebrow at me but didn't say anything, simply smirking. I rolled my eyes and pulled my bedroom door open, surprised to feel tears prick my eyes when I saw the sight of my old bedroom.

However beautiful, fancy and wonderful my new bedroom at the Cullen house was, it would never match up to my cosy, homey room back here in Mystic Falls. It looked exactly the same as it had when I'd left- Jeremy and Jenna can't have possibly even been in here.

The walls were still the same cream colour and the bed still had the crisp duck-egg blue sheets and was decorated with all my adorable teddy bears from when I was younger, the ones that I'd never had the heart to get rid of. My dresser was free of clutter- but that would change soon, when I unpacked. The mirror was still there, minus the photos of my parents- I had taken them to Forks with me. I couldn't bear to let them go.

'Nice room.' Jake commented, snapping me out of my almost trance-like state.

'Yeah.' I breathed, glancing around once more before dropping my huge suitcase on the floor by the bed, gesturing for Jake to do the same.

'I'm sleeping in here?' he asked incredulously.

I shook my head and smirked, amused. 'No- unless you want to.' I waggled my eyebrows. 'You're staying in the guest room, if that's okay with you. Jenna's just finishing it up now- your bed shall be made within the hour.' I paused. 'I hope.'

He chuckled. 'Fine by me.' he said, pressing a soft kiss to my lips. I automatically deepened the kiss, and groaned in annoyance when we were interrupted by a clearing of the throat. I turned my head to the side and cringed when I saw Jeremy staring at us with raised eyebrows. Oops- I'd left the door wide open.

'What?' I asked him sheepishly, stepping back from Jake.

My younger brother cleared his throat again, looking anywhere but at us. 'I just wanted to tell you that Jenna's just finished with the guest room, if you want to, you know, go there.' he muttered, scratching the back of his neck and walking away. As soon as he was gone, I groaned again and buried my face in Jake's chest. He laughed and I felt his chest rumble.

'It's not funny.' I mumbled. 'He just walked in on his sister playing tonsil hockey with his boyfriend. That's embarrassing for me, and disturbing for him.' I shuddered, thinking back on him and Vicki Donovan. 'I should know- I caught him at it with a girl a few months ago. Scarred for life.'

He chuckled and stroked my hair gently. 'He'll get over it.'

'Will I, though?'

He paused. 'M_ay_be.'

I laughed. 'You sure know how to light up a girl's spirits.'

He looked at me incredulously. 'You're not complaining, are you?'

I giggled, kissing him again. 'Of course not.' I murmured against his lips. Using my foot, I pushed the door shut and Jake guided me to the bed, where we proceeded to show each other just how much we loved each other.

**A/N: And there's the first chapter!  
>Yes, I know, not much of a first chapter- but trust me, there's a lot more to come! Caroline, Bonnie and the rest of the Cullen's come in next chapter, so yay!<br>Hope you liked this, then. I just didn't want to leave Finding A Home, so I made this when I remembered that finishing it on the prom night would mean that you wouldn't get to see the big visit! So here it is. :)  
>The outfits for the story will be in a link on my profile- all the outfits for one story are included in one link, so yeah. Does anyone ever actually look at the outfits? I'm thinking probably not, but oh well. It's seriously fun to make the outfits.<br>Disclaimer: Obviously, I don't own either Vampire Diaries or Twilight. I never will, so for that reason I'm not going to repeat this disclaimer every chapter- that would get incredibly boring. ;)  
>Thanks for reading!<br>~AlisaPhenom. XoXo**


	2. Sex Hair

**Chapter 2. **

**Elena's POV. **

Half an hour later, Jake had gone downstairs to make some breakfast for myself and him. Honestly, he was so sweet- and he was brave enough to face my family right after sleeping with me. My brave boy.

I sighed contently, rolling onto my side. I was lay in my bed, covered only in my pretty blue bed-sheet. I was glad to see some sun in the sky, but frowned when I realised that it would mean there would be less going out for the Cullen's. Maybe I could ask Bonnie if there was a way for them to go outside without having to sparkle in the sun- it could be possible.

Thinking about Bonnie made me suddenly want to see her and Caroline. Not caring that Jeremy had probably already called them, and not even bothering to consider that they might still be asleep, I picked up my cell phone from the bedside table and quickly dialled Caroline's number, pleased when she answered on the second ring. Of course she wouldn't be asleep- she was a vampire, they didn't need more than a few hours of sleep each night.

'Elena?' she asked, her voice practically bursting with excitement.

'Hi!' I said, a big grin spreading across my face. Ugh- here I was, grinning at a wall because I was speaking to one of my best friend's. I should stop being a dork.

'Hi, Elena!' she chirped. 'Are you-'

'I'm here, Care! I'm in Mystic Falls!' I announced happily, holding the phone away from my ear for what would surely come next.

Sure enough, from the other end of the line came a loud squeal that would have been painful to hear if I hadn't moved my phone away. I knew from experience that Caroline tended to get very, very excited, vampire or not.

'I know.' I agreed, my grin not faltering for even a moment.

'Have you called Bonnie?' she asked.

'Not yet- I'm going to, when I'm done with you..'

She snorted. 'Nice way of putting it. Now I feel like trash that needs to be disposed of.' she was teasing, I knew. She did that a lot.

I chuckled. 'Come over. Now.' I ordered playfully.

'Already on it!' she stated. 'See you in a few!'

She had already hung up by the time I was muttering a goodbye. Chuckling, I quickly dialled Bonnie's number. The teenage witch was a lot slower to reply- it took two attempts to get her to pick up.

'Ugh... hello?' she said sleepily. I could tell my phone call had dragged her out of bed, but I didn't feel particularly guilty. I was too excited for guilt today.

'Bonnie!' I squeaked.

'Elena?' her voice was a little more alive now.

'Obviously.' I giggled. 'Bonnie, I'm in Mystic Falls!'

'That's great!' she said eagerly. 'Can I sleep now?'

'No.' I said firmly, smirking. I heard her groan and burst out laughing.

'Why don't you come over to my place? Caroline is already on her way...'

She hesitated before replying, 'Okay, fine. But you owe me- I was asleep.'

I laughed. 'Clearly.'

'See you later, alligator.' she teased.

I rolled my eyes, giggling at our old childish goodbye. 'In a while, crocodile.'

I was still grinning when I'd hung up and saw Jake coming in with a tray of toast, bacon, eggs, orange juice and coffee. My eyes widened.

'Please tell me you're going to eat some of that.' I said, raising an eyebrow at him as he laid the tray carefully down on the bed.

He laughed, handing me the orange juice and a plate of bacon, eggs and toast before taking the coffee and some food for himself. 'Of course I am.'

I grinned and we ate our food in comfortable silence for a while before we heard the doorbell ring. Jake looked at me questioningly when I jumped up.

I smiled sheepishly at him. 'Caroline and Bonnie are kind of coming over. That'll be them.'

He rolled his eyes. 'It's amazing, the things a girl can plan when her boyfriend is out of the room for a few minutes.'

'Don't act like you don't love it.' I teased, kissing him on the nose. I was about to run downstairs when I remembered that I was still naked. I blushed a furious crimson and slammed the bedroom door shut again, hurriedly pulling on a pair of jeans and a white blouse. Jake was laughing at me the whole time, to my chagrin.

Just as I finished the last button on my blouse, there came a small knock on the door. 'That's my cue.' Jake muttered, walking out to the bathroom connected to my room before I could protest. He was probably going to walk out the other door in it and go back downstairs where he wouldn't be stuck in a room full of cooing teenage girls.

I rolled my eyes in his direction before turning back to the door and calling, 'Come in!'

Before I knew what was happening, I was being toppled to the floor by two petite figures.

'Oof!' I grunted. 'And hello to you, too!'

We were all laughing when we stood up, and I beamed at my two best friends in the whole wide world.

'Caroline! Bonnie! I'm so glad you're here!'

Caroline snorted. 'You're glad _we're _here? Elena, we've been practically dying in anticipation waiting for you to get here!'

'We missed you so much! Welcome home, girl!' Bonnie added excitedly.

'I missed you guys, too.' I smiled.

Caroline, I noticed, was suddenly staring at me.

'What?' I asked, a little uncomfortable.

'You have sex hair.' she observed, narrowing her eyes with a smirk.

I blushed. 'I do?'

'Oh, my god, you _do_.' Bonnie gushed, laughing lightly.

My hands immediately flew to my hair, appalled. My two friends were leaning against each other, laughing like their lives depended on it and clutching their sides.

'Shut up.' I scowled, blushing.

After far too long, their laughter died out and they were left grinning at me.

'So, who was it? Your new boyfriend?' Caroline asked knowingly.

I nodded quickly, not meeting their eyes.

'And here was me, thinking that it was too early to move. Where is he?' Bonnie asked, giggling playfully and glancing furtively around my room. As if he'd be hiding somewhere.

I rolled my eyes, giggling just like Bonnie was.

'He went downstairs- I think.'

'You don't know where your boyfriend went?' Caroline shook her head sadly. 'Shameful, my sister, shameful.'

I raised an eyebrow elegantly. 'Did I say I don't know where he is?'

'We want to meet him.' Bonnie said quickly before me and Caroline could start one of our infamous bicker-wars. It was an endearing exchange, of course.

I shrugged. 'You can meet him if he comes back up here.'

'What's he like?' Caroline asked eagerly.

'He's.. amazing. Absolutely everything a girl could hope for, and more.' I breathed, looking them both in the eye and smirking. 'But he laughs like a dog.'

'He does?' Caroline asked with a blonde brow raised.

'Oh, yeah.' I nodded.

They both giggled, and I took the oppurtunity to change the subject to the weather, commenting on how nice it was. We spent the next few minutes discussing random things like that when we were interrupted by a voice.

'I'm coming in, Elena, your aunt was about to ask me whether we were being _safe_ or not.' a kind of cocky but warm voice sounded as my door cracked open to reveal a grinning Jake.

Oh, god.

Unable to help myself, I blurted, 'Do I have sex hair?'

He looked taken aback by the question. 'Uh, well, yes.'

'Oh.' I groaned, flattening down my hair frustratedly.

Jake laughed at me, causing my two friends to look at me and say, '_He does_!' before cracking up with laughter, much to Jake's confusion. I joined in with the laughter as Jake's brow furrowed adorably.

Our laughter died out a few short minutes later. Jake gave me an amused glance, shaking his head, and then looked to my two best friends. 'Hi, I'm Jacob Black. Call me Jake. Nice to meet you...'

'Caroline.' Caroline squeaked. 'Caroline Forbes.'

'I'm Bonnie Bennett.' Bonnie said quickly, offering her hand.

Jake grinned at them again and took both their hands, shaking it. Once his back was turned, both Bonnie and Caroline gave me wide-eyed glances, as if to say, _Jeesh, Elena, he's h-o-t! _

I gave them both a pointed _he's mine _glance before looking at Jake, after deciding I no longer cared if I had sex hair or not.

'So,' Jake said casually. 'Caroline. You're a vampire?'

She blushed lightly. 'Yes, I am. Did Elena tell you?'

'We tell each other everything- you know how the Imprint is.' I said quickly as an explanation. Caroline nodded slowly, smiling widely.

'Speaking of the Imprint,' she said, her voice taking on a sly note that I had long ago decided that I shouldn't trust, 'How does that work? Love at first sight?'

'Yes.' Jake said, shrugging nonchalently. 'And from then on, no other person can catch the eye of either person.'

I cringed at that, which thankfully went unnoticed by the three other occupants of the room. Jake's words brought back the memory of Damon Salvatore, who I assumed had returned to Mystic Falls after he kissed me and then helped us kill Klaus. I'd only confronted him once after the kiss, and it was during that confrontation that I'd stupidly blurted out about how I'd be returning to Mystic Falls on this very day. He'd told me he'd see me around- which I assumed meant he would see me here. I wasn't really looking forward to our meeting, if we had one- I vowed to try my best to avoid the handsome blue-eyed vampire.

My attention was brought back to the present when Caroline asked me a question.

'Hmm?' I murmured absently.

She rolled her eyes. 'I said, do you want us to help you show Jake around town?'

I hesitated before shrugging. 'It's not just Jake you'd be showing around if you did.' I told them. 'Remember those vampires I'm living with?'

Bonnie's face fell a little, but her smile remained, and Caroline simply nodded.

'Well, they're here too.'

'Why?' Bonnie gasped, clearly appalled. Jake watched her display with a smile; I had a feeling him and Bonnie would get along very well, due to their mutual dislike of all vampires.

I shrugged, sighing wearily. 'They insisted. I think they wanted to come. Which reminds me, Bonnie.' I hesitated again. 'Remember I told you how these vampires... sparkle? In the sunlight?'

She snickered before nodding her head yes.

'Well, do you think there's some kind of spell or something that could stop that?' I asked, biting my lip. I knew I was treading on dangerous ground- Bonnie never liked helping vampires, no matter what type of blood they drank.

She faltered. 'I don't know, Elena. I can check for you, if you really want.'

'Please do.' I said, letting out a breath of relief and quickly changing the subject to the wonderfully small town of Mystic Falls, and everything that happened in it after I left.

'Good news!' Caroline beamed. 'Me and Matt are back together again- after I told him literally everything and he accepted it- and me and Tyler are actually on speaking terms now!'

'Tyler?' Jake questioned with a raised eyebrow. 'Matt?'

'Friends of ours.' I explained as I glanced pointedly at Caroline, knowing full well how Tyler kissed her before I left. 'And _one of them_ is Caroline's boyfriend- obviously Matt.' I grinned. 'And Tyler is a werewolf.'

His eyes widened. 'Like, a real werewolf? A full-moon werewolf?'

I nodded eagerly. 'Yeah! I think you and him would get along great.' I mused.

Caroline smiled at us before perking up and looking alert. 'There are people coming to the door.' she said quickly, running to the window and not bothering to conceal her vampire speed. She peered out and was hurriedly joined by me, Bonnie and Jake. I let out a breath of relief when I saw who it was.

'Oh, don't worry- those are the Cullen's.' I smiled. 'My family.'

Bonnie raised an eyebrow at my choice of words, but didn't say anything. I was grateful for that.

'You should go let them in.' Jake said, his voice tight. I smiled at him and squeezed his hand before rushing out the door to greet my vampire family.

'Hi!' I greeted, getting the door before Jenna, who was just now coming out with Jeremy, to see who it was. She saw the Cullen's and gasped, as did Jeremy. I smirked- they were seeing the beautiful family of vampires for the first time.

'Hello.' Carlisle greeted in turn, smiling warmly, as was Esme- and, to my surprise, every single member of the clan. Including Rosalie, who usually gave nothing more than a smirk or a small smile.

'Elena, who is this?' Jenna asked, her voice almost a low hiss. She hadn't taken her eyes off the Cullen's for one second, and I noticed Edward trying to withhold a chuckle.

Jeremy was staring at them, wide-eyed. Then he looked at me, waiting for an explanation.

'Jeremy, Jenna, these are the family who took me in when I needed it- the Cullen's,' I pointed to each family member as I said their name, 'This is Carlisle, Esme, Alice, Edward and Emmett Cullen, and Jasper and Rosalie Hale. This is Bella Swan.' I introduced.

'Lovely to meet you.' Esme said.

'Cullen's and Bella, this is my Aunt Jenna, and my brother, Jeremy Gilbert.'

'It's a pleasure.' Jasper smiled charmingly, taking Jenna's hand and kissing it gently. Jenna gave a little _oh _noise and I suppressed a giggle, which Alice didn't.

She gave a light, tinkly giggle as she watched her husband kiss the hand of my aunt.

I realised then that I'd left Caroline and Bonnie alone with Jake and couldn't help the small stab of jealousy that I knew was irrational. My two best friends would never pose any kind of threat to me- they knew that Jake was _my_ Imprint.

'Elena here has so kindly offered to show us around town.' Carlisle explained.

'Oh, she has?' Jenna gave me with a meaningful glance before looking back to the Cullen's, 'Well, I guess that will be fine. It was lovely to meet you all. Oh, and Elena?'

'Yeah?'

'Do you mind if Jeremy tags along with you guys? I have to leave in a few minutes to drop off this letter to Carol Lockwood, and I don't want him to be alone in the house, what with all the animal attacks nearby.'

Ah, the _animal attacks_. Codename for rabid vampire attacks- there'd been an increase in them lately, which I'd credited to Klaus. Hopefully, there'd be no more of them now...

Jeremy groaned. 'I'm not five!'

'You're close enough.' Jenna said firmly before smiling once more at the Cullen's and walking away. I let out the breath I realised I'd been holding and grinned at the Cullen's.

'Jake's upstairs with my two friends, I'll go get them- Caroline and Bonnie are coming along, too.'

'That's fine.' Carlisle smiled and I bounded up the stairs to get my best friends and my boyfriend.

'Okay, time to go.' I announced, looking at them all.

'Great!' Caroline chirped. 'Come on, Bonnie, let's go meet Elena's _family_.' the pretty blonde vampire gave me a knowing smirk and hopped down the steps with Bonnie, and I held my hand out for Jake. He took it gladly, giving me a warm smile.

'You still have sex hair.' he told me affectionately.

My eyes widened for a moment before I put a calm composure over myself. 'I can live with that.'

**A/N: And it's chapter two, woo, woo! :)  
>I was seriously, seriously going to post these first two chapters a LOT sooner, but my internet timed out and would NOT connect again, seriously. Even when I was stood right there, next to the router... nothing. So, yeah- here they are anyway!<br>I want to thank you all for reading, because I'm really glad that there are people reading this. I hope you enjoyed the second chapter! :) Was it any good? Let me know in a pretty little review- it'll make my day! :)  
>~AlisaPhenom. XoXo<strong>


	3. Glad You're Back

**Chapter 3. **

**Bella's POV. **

I watched with a small smile and a raised eyebrow as Elena, Caroline and Bonnie linked arms and started skipping as they showed us around the small, sunny town of Mystic Falls. The funny thing was, they didn't even look strange- they just looked unusually cool.

'That, of course, is the Mystic Grill. Probably the only decent hang-out in the whole town. You can come here and get a drink, or food, or whatever- it's a restaurant, bar and grill.' Elena explained, pointing to a medium-sized building with a neon sign saying, _Mystic Grill. _

'I can already tell where Emmett will spend most of his time.' Alice smirked.

We all laughed and Elena pointed to a small area of pretty trimmed grass with a lovely water fountain in the middle of it. '_That_ is this town's excuse for a park. It's tiny, yeah, but it's pretty, right?'

'Very pretty.' Esme cooed.

Elena nodded with a grin. I noticed out of the corner of my eye a tired looking but very handsome boy with blond hair and blue eyes, who seemed to perk up when he noticed the three Mystic Falls girls stood with us.

'Elena!' he cried, making Elena, along with Caroline and Bonnie, whirl round and instantly break out in smiles when they saw the boy.

'Matt!' Elena yelled.

The boy ran up and, to my surprise, hugged Elena shamelessly- huh, so this was Matt. I saw Jake tense a little and reached out a hand, placing it gently on his arm with a reassuring smile.

I briefly wondered if I would be hugged like that when Angela and Jessica saw me again when we came back in two weeks, but shook the thoughts away with a sudden frown.

'It's so nice to see you.' Matt smiled at Elena before planting a seemingly chaste kiss on Caroline's lips.

'Same to you. How've you been, and why are you working the early shift in the grill?' Elena asked.

Matt rolled his eyes. 'It pays better than the midday shift, for some reason.'

Elena nodded sympathetically before she seemed to remember that we were here. Her grin got wider.

'Hey, uh, Matt! These are my friends,' she pointed at each of us as she said our name, 'Carlisle, Esme, Edward, Emmett and Alice Cullen, and Rosalie and Jasper Hale, and Bella Swan. And _this_,' she paused to smile lovingly at Jake, 'is my boyfriend, Jacob Black.'

Matt's smile wavered for a second before he smiled a wide and warm smile at each of us, and I was surprised that he hadn't shown any real shock about the beauty and strangeness of the Cullen's. 'Great to meet you all. I'm Matt Donovan. Okay, so I have to get back to work now, but I work in the grill, so maybe I'll see you around sometime?' his voice raised at the end like a question, and I nodded enthusiastically. Matt seemed like a nice guy.

'That'd be great.' Caroline smiled at him and kissed him again, before waving at him as he jogged back inside the grill.

'Well,' Elena looked at Jake, 'That was fun... you can loosen up now, Jake.'

He smiled sheepishly at her and relaxed his tense muscles. 'Sorry.'

Elena grinned and rolled her eyes before smiling at each of us and nodding towards what I recognised as our hotel.

'As you all clearly know, this right here is the Flowers Bed and Breakfast- the only hotel in town, and coincidentally the one you're staying at. It's owned by Mrs Flowers, who's really nice, so you should have a nice stay there.' she said.

It went on that way for the whole half-hour of showing us around (the town really _was_ small). Elena would show us buildings or attractions, we'd see someone come up, give Elena a hug and tell her how glad they were that she was back, blah blah blah. I was more than a little ashamed to feel that similar feeling of jealousy in my gut when people just randomly approached Elena to hug her and tell her those nice things.

No, I was over this. I would not be jealous of Elena, not any more...

I sighed and clutched tighter on Edward's hand, resisting the urge to roll my eyes when Emmett picked a protesting Elena up and swung her around while she squealed and laughed. All the Cullen's chuckled at the display while Bonnie and Caroline were almost on the floor with laughter.

Well, I could already tell this was going to be a great trip.

**Elena's POV. **

'Stop!' I gasped out between squeals and laughter. 'Emmett, put me _down!' _

_'_Never!' he yelled, still spinning me around. I heard peals of laughter from the Cullen's and ridiculous snorts of laughter from my two friends, which only made me laugh more, and I was nearly in tears by the time Emmett finally put me down.

'Never do that... never do that again!' I panted.

He guffawed. 'No promised.'

Jake was b my side in an instant, his barking laughter louder than anyone else's as he planted a kiss on my nose.

I pouted, crossing my arms childishly. 'That was mean.' I said.

To my credit, at least it was funny. Everyone started laughing again.

So far I'd been seen and greeted by Matt, Tyler, Mrs Lockwood, Mr and Mrs Riley from across the street, Alaric, Mrs Flowers and a few people from school. Each had seemed pretty excited to see me, but it was a little awkward when Tyler hugged me and then gave Caroline this sort of overly-polite nod. So she wasn't exaggerating when she'd said they were barely on speaking terms.

We'd just about finished showing Bella, Jake and the Cullen's around now, and it was 10:00am. We had plenty of time to kill.

'So, what do you guys want to do now?' I asked them.

Bonnie and Caroline looked at each other, then Caroline said, 'The Grill!'

I raised an eyebrow. 'At 10am?'

'Yes!' she said defensively.

'Why?' Rosalie asked with an amused tone. I was glad to see she'd been kind of friendly to Caroline and Bonnie, if a little distant.

Caroline shrugged, then smiled sheepishly. 'I want to see Matt.'

We all nodded in understanding, and I smirked while Bonnie chuckled under her breath.

'So, the grill it is?' Bella said, and everyone nodded absently as Bonnie and Caroline led the way. I gave Bella a warm, friendly smile before jogging up and joining my friends in leading the way to the grill.

When we arrived, it was busier than I'd actually expected. I cringed and hid myself behind Jacob when a lot of people turned round to watch us walk in. The whispers started immediately... who would expect anything else from a closely-packed, gossip-craving town like Mystic Falls? I heard some of the whispers and was actually mildly surprised.

'… Elena Gilbert's back in town...'

'…. Looks like she's got a new boy to toy with...'

'… Who are those people she's with...'

'…. Glad she's back... good influence... genuinely nice person...'

'… Looking just as beautiful as ever, I see...'

Suddenly there were a few people waving at me, smiling cheerfully, and the eerie, whisper-filled silence that had fallen on the diners upon our entrance was replaced again by the usual chatter.

'That was kind of creepy.' I said, glancing round at everyone and peeling myself away from Jake's arm, which I realised with a blush that I had been latched onto like I was trying to suffocate it or something.

'Very creepy.' Alice agreed, before skipping away to get a table.

**A/N: I know, I know! It's very short, but I assure you, the chapters in the future will be a lot longer and a lot better, too! I just couldn't find any inspiration and just managed to scrape by with those 1400 words, shame on me! :(  
>So, anyway, on a much more pleasant note. Reviews! I already have four of them, which is great! :D Thank you to everyone has reviewed, and just because I'm feeling super nice and all, here's the mentions that I never stick to doing! :D<br>Chiwi  
>RoseAngel16<br>SoulEaterXXX**

**Oh, and a very special thank you to a certain RoseAngel16, whose review for Finding A Home is what gave me the idea I needed for jealous Bella! Thank you! :)  
>So, yes, anyway. Thank you to everyone, keep on reviewing, etcetera, etcetera! ;D<br>~AlisaPhenom. XoXo**


	4. Mystic Breakfast

**Chapter 4. **

**Stefan's POV. **

'I can't _believe _you, Katherine.' I growled, running my hands through my hair again.

'What, mad that I put your precious little Elena at risk again?' she snapped back, glaring at me.

'What is _wrong _with you?' I asked her, turning my lip up in disgust at her antics. Now, and only now, had she finally told me what it was she'd done that Damon had been so angry about.

Of course, Katherine, being Katherine, simply couldn't _resist_ making sure that I didn't go crawling back to Elena for whatever reason- _which I wouldn't even do_- so she figured that trying to get Elena taken away by Elijah would be the best thing to do!

She even had the nerve to say it was in everyone's best interest, that she was only looking out for herself and the others around her.

Of course, I no longer had any romantic feelings for my ex-girlfriend and Katherine's doppelganger, but still, that didn't mean I wanted her to get taken away by Elijah. Was Katherine _crazy_?

… Well, of course she was.

'You'll forgive me, Stefan.' the corners of her mouth curled up as she twirled a strand of dark hair in her fingers.

I didn't answer- I only walked out of the room, letting out an angry sigh and wondering why the hell Katherine was only telling me this now.

Oh, well. I'd figure it out later, when I was in a mood to talk to Katherine civilly again. I decided to go to the grill- regardless of the time- and see if I could find a way to calm myself down there.

Sigh.

**Elena's POV. **

'It's a nice place.' Esme said wearily, eyeing the kind of dirty interior of the Mystic Grill.

I laughed. 'The nicest we're going to get.'

We were all sat in the Mystic Grill. Bonnie, being the only human who hadn't had breakfast yet, was wolfing down the Mystic Breakfast Special- eggs, toast, bacon and sausage.

I sipped my glass of water tentatively. It tasted like tap water, but I didn't really care.

Caroline, if she could, would still be blushing furiously from her encounter with Matt.

_******_**Flashback****

_(Elena's POV) _

_'Hey Matt!' Caroline called to her waiter boyfriend as she grinned, waving. There were still eyes on us, for some reason- probably the fact that there was twelve of us- but we were thankfully being given the privacy that we wanted. _

_'Caroline! Hey.' Matt greeted, coming over to us. He smiled. 'So, what brings you into the grill at this time in the morning?' _

_All eyes involuntarily moved to Caroline, who bit her lip as she gave Matt a sheepish smile. _

_'Uh... Bonnie was really hungry.' she excused lamely. _

_Matt nodded, a wide grin on his face. 'The Mystic Breakfast, then, Bonnie?' he suggested. _

_Bonnie sighed and nodded. Well, at least she hadn't had breakfast yet. _

_'Anything for anyone else?' he asked after scribbling the witch's order with a bored expression. _

_'I'll have a glass of water.' I said quietly, resting my head on Jacob's shoulder tiredly. _

_'Coming right up.' Matt winked at us all, and gave Caroline a lazy smile. _

_Caroline let out a world-weary sigh when Matt walked away and Emmett looked at us curiously. 'Why is the breakfast so Mystic?' he asked. _

_I laughed, then stopped when I realised he was serious. 'Emmett,' I said slowly. 'This is the Mystic Grill, in Mystic Falls. I'm not sure if you've noticed, but the people here really play up to the _Mystic_ part of that sentence. They just go overboard.' _

_Rosalie rolled her eyes and slapped her burly husband over the back of the head. 'Idiot.' she muttered. _

_'Careful, Rose, you might break a nail.' Emmett mocked. _

_Rosalie glowered at Emmett, and he seemed to cower away. I didn't blame him- Rosalie looked positively evil. _

_Esme let out a tinkling laugh, clapping her hands together in a way that screamed, _Okay-let's-change-the-subject-from-my-son's-idiocy.

_Matt returned a few minutes later with Bonnie's breakfast and my glass of water. _

_'Enjoy.' he said. _

_'Oh, hey, Matt, wait!' Caroline said when he once again turned to walk away. _

_Matt turned back to her and raised an eyebrow. 'Caroline, can we talk later? I have to get back behind the bar before the boss fires me.' _

_Caroline cringed, looking disappointed. 'Uh... okay...' she frowned, her eyes huge. 'Sorry.' _

_Matt hesitated before leaving again, and I rubbed Caroline's shoulder consolingly. 'What did you need to talk about that was so important?' I asked her. _

_She shook her head. 'Just the usual drama.' _

_I smiled sympathetically. 'You know it'll all work out.' _

****End Flashback** **

I felt a very annoying _buzz _in my pocket and jumped. Jake turned to look at me with an alarmed expression, as did the others, and I gave them all a sheepish smile, taking my still-buzzing phone from my pocket and waving it as way of explanation.

I glanced at the caller ID and rolled my eyes with a small smile. 'It's Jenna. I have to take this, sorry.' I said, flipping open the phone and answering it, not caring that those in the group with supernatural hearing could hear it.

In fact, when Jenna spoke, her voice was so loud in my ear that I think the whole table could hear it.

'Elena! Where are you?' she asked, and I got a mental image of Jenna pacing around the kitchen, one hand pressing the phone to her ear and the other hand flapping around exasperatedly in the air before going through her hair.

'At the grill... why? What's wrong?' I frowned.

I could hear her relieved sigh. 'Oh, you know, nothing really... just, you know...' she trailed off after a third 'you know'.

'Jenna.' I said patiently. 'Why did you call me?'

She sighed again. 'Alaric just came over... and he may have spotted Damon sauntering around town, behaving like the ass he is.'

My eyes widened. 'Damon's back?'

I'd been informed that Damon had been away for three weeks, and everyone had assumed he'd left town. I'd been actually relieved, even though two of those three weeks had been spent in _my _residing town of Forks.

There were a few gasps and angry mutters around the table at my outburst. I felt Jake tense beside me and I was kind of worried by the way he was glaring at the table. I was fairly confident the poor piece of wood would explode.

'He _might _be back. Hey, Alaric could have been mistaken!' Jenna didn't sound confident in her theories. I doubted she herself believed them, though she was clearly trying to be as convincing as can be.

'That _might _leaves a lot to question.' I snapped, then instantly regretted it. I rubbed my temples in an attempt to soothe the sudden ache in my head. 'I'm sorry.'

'That's okay. So, uh, if Damon _is _back... what are we going to do?'

I hesitated. 'Deal with him the way we normally deal with him.'

'But I can't stand him! I was so pleased when I'd learned that he'd left town!' my aunt wailed, making me chuckle. If only she knew what it was- oh, I would definitely pay to see her reaction to that piece of news.

Not that she ever _would _know, if I could help it. I would do anything to protect my aunt from the dangers of the supernatural world- even if she did have a shape-shifting werewolf living in her guest room.

'Hey, think of it this way- life will be much more exciting now.' I comforted weakly.

'What do you me-'

'Bye, Jenna!' I said brightly, cutting off her question- which, no doubt, would be a _What do you mean by that_?

I hung up before she could reply.

**Jacob's POV. **

Apparently, the blue-eyed leech was back.

Great.

I glanced at each of the Cullen's- it was becoming surprisingly easy now to address them by at least their last names... in Elena's presence- and found myself smirking lightly at their reactions. Carlisle and Esme were frowning; Emmett was clenching his fist so hard, I was surprised his palm didn't have imprints of his fingertips; Edward looked tense; Jasper looked pained, and I knew it was because everyone's emotions were hitting him at once; Blondie (I refused to call her Rosalie still) had an expression of icy, yet controlled, fury; Alice didn't look affected. Which surprised me. I mean, surely, if the Pixie had had a vision, she would have told Elena at least...?

I shrugged it off. What I needed to focus on right now was protecting Elena, and as she hung up, she looked around at each of us wearily.

'I hope you don't all think this will ruin our trip.' she said lightly after a pause, breaking the tense silence.

The witch called Bonnie rolled her eyes, her mouth a hard line. 'He has some nerve, showing his face here after everything he's done.'

Elena frowned. 'What has he done?'

We all stared at Elena in disbelief.

'Do you want me to make a start on naming everything on the list, or should I make it easier by naming all the things he _hasn't _done?' Caroline questioned with a furrowed brow.

Elena sighed. 'Really, it's not that big a deal.' she paused. 'And besides, he helped us kill Klaus- we owe him _something, _right?'

I snorted. 'We owe him nothing, Elena.'

She stared at each of us all before her expression darkened and she huffed stubbornly. That was one thing about my Elena- she was too stubborn for her own good.

'Fine.' she growled out. 'But I hope you know that his arrival in town changes nothing. Which means we're _not _going to start paying him violent visits and threatening him every time we see him.' she added in a warning tone when Emmett opened his mouth to speak.

It worried me, how protective Elena seemed to get when we spoke badly of Damon. As if she were _defending_ him. What was that all about? Did she even realise she was doing it- who she was defending? This is the vampire who stalked her all the way into Forks, where he tormented her both in and out of school!

Oh, and also the man with whom I had so stupidly made a bet with over Elena's affections.

I loved Elena with all my heart, and I was confident in her love for me- maybe that's why I made the rash decision to gamble with a vampire.

The chirpy blonde vampire whom I decided was bearable company, Caroline, quickly changed the subject, and soon enough we were talking about random things like how much sunnier it would be in Mystic Falls than in Forks, and how Bonnie would try her best to perform a spell to stop their embarrassing issue with sunlight.

Honestly, sparkly vampires- could it get any more ridiculous?

**A/N: I FINALLY UPDATED, WOOOO!  
>Yeah, I'm so sorry about the wait. How long has it been now? I lost track of the days, it being the summer holidays and all!<br>So, hey, there it is. :D Hope you liked it!  
>I doubt it was up to the standards you lovely people would expect it to be, and I'm sorry, but I really am trying my best to write even mildly acceptable things now. It seems that hanging out with my less-involved-with-fanfiction-friends is occupying too much of my time! :O :(<br>I promise to update more often now, really, I do. It's just more difficult than I expected to balance out the updates for five stories. I shall stop complaining, though! :D  
>And thank you for the wonderful reviews, you brilliant people! They make me happy- even more happy than if Ian Somerhalder, Paul Wesley and Kellan Lutz arrived shirtless at my door holding a platter of chocolate-chip cookies.<br>… Okay, maybe not THAT happy. But still very happy...  
>I'm on a sugar high. That explains all that above, and you know... I'll stfu now. O:)<br>~AlisaPhenom. XoXo **


	5. The Other Salvatore

**Chapter 5. **

**Edward's POV. **

I rolled my eyes at the basic thought process of the people in Mystic Grill.

_Oh, Elena's back! Great! Time for me to say goodbye to any attention I may get from anyone in the male gender! _one teenage girl thought spitefully.

_I wonder if I tell her I love her she'll sleep with me...? _

_Damn, he'd better bring the drugs, I'm not paying three hundred bucks for a bag of flour again... _

It was all the typical thoughts you'd expect from typical people.

I watched the exchanges between the overly-chirpy blonde, Caroline, (whom I knew will get on excellently with Alice) and the bus-boy, Matt. I couldn't read Caroline's thoughts, but Matt's thoughts were clear as day, and I knew for a fact that he was only pretending not to be scared of his girlfriend's nature for her benefit. Sigh. The complications of supernatural love...

My hands were intertwined with Bella's and I looked down at them, my brow furrowed.

I spared a glance at Elena and sighed, seeing that her gaze was fixed on Jacob's face. She looked anxious. I didn't even need to look into her mind to see that she was worried about how tense he had suddenly become when she- unknowingly- defended Damon.

Yes, the atmosphere at the table was slowly, oh so slowly, deteriorating into awkwardness.

But I was only half-glad when a distraction was provided. Honestly, couldn't fate give this family and those surrounding it a rest? Just once? Do I even have to say please?

That suddenly unwanted distraction came in the form of one Stefan Salvatore, from what I could hear from the thoughts of Elena and Bonnie, who walked in just at that moment. He took one sweeping glance around the grill and I made sure my glare was fierce when his hazel eyes landed on our table.

His eyebrows flew practically to his hairline. He quickly recovered, however, and smoothly made his way to a different booth, which was so conveniently near ours. I knew that he was curious about, well, us- it didn't take a genius to figure out that we were different. Plus, he must have noticed our scent- or lack thereof.

I felt an immense wave of irritation hit me when I tried to meet again and was met with the now all-too-familiar feeling of hitting a blank wall, a wall that I couldn't get past, no matter how hard I tried. It was incredibly infuriating.

'Great.' Elena muttered dryly, letting her wavy dark hair fall neatly over her face. But her attempts at hiding were too late- she, along with the rest of us, had already been spotted.

'Elena?' Jacob said with a dangerously dark expression. 'Who is that?'

'_That,' _she murmured, 'is Stefan Salvatore. And I know for a fact he can hear us.' she added in a hiss.

'_That's_ the other Salvatore brother?' Bella questioned, staring at said vampire.

'That's the other Salvatore brother.' Caroline nodded. Bonnie's eyes were narrowed, and I didn't even have to look into her mind to know that she was feeling an intense burst of hatred and anger. From what I knew, she had always been willing to tolerate Stefan, and even Damon on occasion, purely for Elena's benefit- but now that that wasn't necessary, since Stefan broke Elena's heart, all forced acceptance and politeness wasn't necessary and Bonnie could show her true feelings for the brothers.

Stefan turned to face us from his seat alone, his expression a mixture of confusion, anxiousness, and, to my surprise, sheepishness.

'Hi.' he greeted. His voice was quiet, but it carried well and we all heard it.

There was a short pause before Elena, well, exploded.

_'HI?_' she seethed. 'That's all you have to say? We haven't seen each other since you, for all intensive purposes, _broke my heart_, and all you say is _hi_?'

'Elena-' Jake began, but was cut off by the furious brunette beauty.

I looked on, amused, at Elena. I didn't want to interfere by saying, _How else was he supposed to greet you_?

We all knew that Elena wasn't angry about the awkward greeting, not really- she was more angry that the man who broke her heart after promising to love her was sat there casually, as if he was wanted in our presence. Even if she was with Jake now- the break-up had still hurt, at the time.

Or, at least, that's what I picked up from her mind.

**Elena's POV. **

Breathe. Breathe, Elena, breathe... in, out, deep breath. You don't really want to kill him, and after all, breaking a leg off the table would only cause a scene...

My shameful mental attempts at calming myself were wasted. All it took was a stroke of the arm from Jake and, just like that, my heavy breathing had calmed and the red tint in my vision had cleared. My outlook on the world was, once again, rose-tinted and calm.

'Wonderful to see you again.' I said curtly, not meaning a word of it. Jake, sat next to me, was shaking visibly. Clearly, this first meeting with the other Salvatore brother was not to his liking. Could I really blame him?

Stefan was sat relatively close to us, and I could hear his every word clearly. I had no doubt, either, that he could hear every word of mine.

I was probably overreacting, I know, but... I really _didn't _want Stefan to know I was back in town, not just yet. Was that so wrong of me?

'Stefan. What are you doing here?' Caroline asked, voice mocking. I resisted the urge to give a sudden smile- I knew Bonnie and Caroline both had my back. Years ago, we had made a sisterly pact, swearing to always look out for each other, whether the subject be school-work, boys, or, most recently, supernatural entities.

The brown-haired vampire shrugged, with the tiniest smile. 'Argument.'

'With Katherine.' Bonnie rolled her eyes. 'What, did you finally realise what a selfish, manipulative bitch she is?'

I gaped at Bonnie in shock. Yes, she hated vampires- especially Katherine- and yes, she tended to speak her mind, but I had never heard her say anything like _that_. I couldn't help the grin that curved the corners of my mouth upwards.

'You go, girl.' I heard Alice mutter under her breath while Caroline, like me, gaped openly at Bonnie, who looked between us all with a sheepish smile. Looks like our Good Witch had a meaner side... not that I was complaining.

Stefan's eyebrows raised in a gesture of mild surprise, but he didn't comment. He just smiled ruefully. 'Actually, she finally told me why she went to Forks a week ago.'

I frowned. 'You mean...?'

He nodded once.

'She only told you that _now_?' Rosalie looked just as surprised as the rest of us- save, of course, for Alice- but had an angry scowl on her otherwise perfect pale face.

'I'm surprised she told you at all.' Edward smirked. 'Let me guess- you stormed out angrily and decided to come here?'

Stefan nodded again, eyeing Edward suspiciously. 'Something like that.'

I gave Edward what I hoped was a penetrating stare. How did he know what Stefan did? Was it just a good guess, or could he actually read Stefan's mind?

In answer, Edward's head turned ever so slightly towards me and he gave a small shake of his head. I let out a relieved breath and looked back to Stefan. Esme, Bella, Carlisle and Emmett had remained unusually quiet throughout the whole talk so far, and I was curious as to why. Emmett, of all people, should have at least made a snarky comment or witty remark by now. But he hadn't- why? Was I just being ridiculously paranoid about every little thing?

Jeesh, I had to get a grip- my ex-boyfriend shows up at the Grill, and suddenly I notice every little thing around me.

Damn.

**Bella's POV. **

I inwardly rolled my eyes as we walked into the grill and an immediate silence fell over the occupants of the building. All eyes, it seems, were on us. I wasn't sure whether they were marvelling at the beauty of the vampires among us, or were just shocked that their beloved Elena Gilbert was back. A few whispers sprung up, and I was a little alarmed at it all. Finally, after a few seconds, the silence died down and people's eyes were averted as we all walked in.

I wasn't focusing on what Alice and Elena were saying as I watched with an annoying tinge of jealousy as people gave Elena warm smiles which she returned and told her quick, 'Glad you're back!'s.

I shook the jealousy away when Jasper gave me a stern glance. I shot him a sheepish smile in return, scratching the back of my neck awkwardly.

'Nice place, isn't it?' Edward muttered dryly in my ear, making me blush and smile up at him as I shrugged.

'I think it's actually better than the Forks bar.' I chuckled.

He laughed and wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me toward him protectively as he shot a glare at some people sitting around tables.

I raised an eyebrow at him questioningly.

'Some people are a little _too _glad to see Elena.' he murmured in explanation, and I didn't bother to hide the roll of my eyes this time.

'Typical men.' Rosalie snorted bitterly. Emmett's arm snaked around her shoulders in response and I looked away as they gave each other an overly public display of affection.

'Cut it out.' Jasper groaned. 'That's not something I want to see this early in the morning.'

Alice giggled and kissed his cheek.

Acting on impulse, I twisted in Edward's arms and gave him a gentle kiss on the lips. Out of nowhere. Wow, smooth, Bella. Sm_oo_th.

Edward seemed surprised, but his topaz eyes were soft and like melted liquid. He smiled at me, and out of the corner of my eye I noticed Elena leaning on Jake's arm, probably not even realising she was doing it.

I knew I needed to stop this- I knew that I should _NOT _be jealous of Elena Gilbert and her wonderful, perfect relationship with Jacob Black, but... I was.

How terrible was I?

**A/N: I know, I'm a horrible person, it's been too long since I updated and I'm becoming far too unreliable! My deepest apologies!  
>I get distracted too easily, especially when it's sunny... and I realise I'm not even replying to reviews any more, gasp! I'll get right down to that.<br>Right, so; today you can depend on me to update once at least every two days and reply to all your wonderful reviews which I'm incredibly grateful for. :) Yay!  
>Thank you for reading and reviewing and yes yes yes, I say it every update, you know it, right? O:)<br>What do you guys think of jealous Bella? Did I overdo all the reactions and stuff- something I'm notoriously terrible for? Please let me know!  
>~AlisaPhenom. XoXo<strong>


	6. Private Moment

**Chapter 6. **

**Elena's POV. **

'Oh, Stefan?' I asked, biting my lip, still debating on whether I should ask what I was about to ask with the Cullen's, Bonnie, Caroline and especially Jake present. But I really, really needed to know if what Jenna said was the truth, or just a look-alike.

He raised a questioning eyebrow at me.

'Is... is Damon back in town? I mean, have you seen him?'

He paused. He looked at me with his brow now furrowed. 'He's not at the boarding house, if that's what you mean.'

I nodded slowly. I was well aware that all eyes were suddenly on me, and I didn't really like that. I mean, come on- it was just a question, right? Asked with innocent intentions. It's not like I really cared whether Damon was back or not... isn't it?

Well, whatever. I quickly changed the subject. 'Well, I think we should be going. Bonnie's finished her breakfast and I'm sure Aunt Jenna will be wanting us back by now... so, bye, Stefan!' I said hurriedly, springing up to my feet like a coiled wire, using my hand to pull Jacob up with me. The others stood up silently, with no objections, and Stefan merely sat back in his chair, watching us.

'Bye, I guess.' he muttered as we quickly filed out of the grill.

'What the hell was that?' Bonnie hissed to me when we left the grill.

'What was _what_?' I asked defensively, tightening my grip on Jake's arm as he pulled me closer.

'She means, why do you care whether Damon's back or not?' Jake asked me, voice tight and surprisingly cold.

'I just... I just wanted to know. Is that so wrong?' I demanded, feeling anger start to surge up in me.

'There's nothing wrong with that, dear.' Esme said, flashing me a warm, comforting smile. I instantly felt myself start to calm down. I shot Jasper a grateful look before looking back to Bonnie and Jake.

'I just wanted to know.' I repeated, my voice firm, signalling the end of the conversation.

I didn't really want that conversation to spring up again today.

'Bella, what are you doing?' Rosalie's sneering, yet still melodic, voice brought my attention back to the Cullen's.

I looked over and saw that Bella had her tongue stuck out and was licking her thumb, then wiping it on a spot on her shirt.

'Wiping off a stain.' she murmured.

Rosalie let out a harsh laugh, making Edward glare at her warningly. The beautiful blonde responded to the glare with a snort, turning on her heel away from Bella and making her way towards me.

I raised an eyebrow at her. 'You still don't like Bella, do you?'

'Never have.' Rosalie mumbled, giving me a sly smirk. 'And I'm not afraid to make that known.'

'I can see that.' I retorted, chuckling. Yes, Bella was my friend, but it was still shamefully amusing to see Rosalie not bothering to hide her contempt for the clumsy brunette.

Rosalie shot me a playful wink before taking up a conversation with Caroline about the best hair products. I barely managed tor refrain from rolling my eyes- I could tell that Caroline and Rosalie would get along very well indeed.

'The sun's bothering me.' Alice complained, hopping into another shadow, narrowly missing a ray of warm sunshine.

I sighed. 'We'll get that spell done as soon as possible.'

'If there is one.' Bonnie added hasily.

'If there is one.' I repeated, smiling a small smile at my mocha-skinned friend.

I looked back to Jake, who, to my dismay, was looking distant and distracted.

'Jake?' I asked in a quiet whisper. 'Are you mad at me?'

He looked at me and sighed. 'A little.' he admitted.

I felt tears sting my eyes, even though I didn't want them to. Jake had no reason to be mad at me... did he?

'Why are you mad at me?'

'Yes, why are you mad at her?' Rosalie demanded, glaring at my shape-shifting boyfriend.

Jake started to shake a little. 'Elena, why don't we talk in private?' he threw the vampires a pointed glare and I nodded as he pulled me gently away until we were farther away from the group, who were stood conversing outside the gril. I wasn't confident that the short distance would stop the nosier vampires- cough, cough, Alice and Caroline- from listening in, but it would have to do. I put a comforting hand on Jake's arm.

'Why are you so fond of the leech?' he demanded, looking me straight in the eyes.

I raised an eyebrow. 'Which one?' I asked lightly.

He rolled his eyes. 'The cocky blue-eyed one.'

I let out a probably unattractive thought. 'In case you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly fond of Damon.'

'But you were pretty eager to defend him earlier.' he pointed out with narrowed eyes.

I sighed. 'It's a reflex. I used to defend him from Stefan and Bonnie, and pretty much everyone, all the time. I used to constantly want to see the good in him. But I don't any more... you know that I love _you_, don't you?'

'I know that.' he grinned.

'Good. Because I really do. Please don't be angry with me.' I murmured, moving my face closer to his.

'How could I ever be angry with you for more than five minutes?' he asked rhetorically, a sarcastic note in his voice. 'No matter how infuriatingly stubborn you can be.'

I smirked. 'I'm going to choose to take that as a compliment.'

He smiled but didn't answer, simply pressing his lips against mine.

**Edward's POV. **

'Bella, it's not going to come off.' I whispered in my love's ear as she sighed in defeat.

'It's gross.' she murmured, gesturing to the grease stain on her red shirt, made from when she stole a piece of Bonnie's bacon earlier.

'Get over it.' Rosalie sneered, her conversation with Caroline now over.

'Rosalie.' Esme chided, eager to keep the peace.

_Good luck with that, mother... _I thought, sighing gently.

Rosalie's never-ending dislike for my girlfriend was frustrating, to say the least. Bella couldn't understand why my blonde vampire sister seemed to hate her so, but I knew the reason. It was because Bella was human- and because Bella wanted to give up that right.

And, apparently, it didn't help that Bella was so god-damn annoying.

Rosalie's thoughts, not mine.

'You'll have to get a new shirt. We can throw that one away.' Alice chirped, before going silent.

My focus was then drawn to my smaller, pixie-like sister, who had suddenly straightened up and took on a slightly dazed expression. She was having a vision. I eagerly tuned into her mind, wanting to know what it was about.

****Flashback****

_(General POV) _

_'This is the girls scent. You will each take turns smelling it. Don't forget it.' a handsome man with dirty blond hair and frightening red eyes announced, holding up a pretty red blouse. _

Bella's_ pretty red blouse. _

_The man was standing before an audience of teenagers and adults alike, each with the same blood-red eyes and hungry expressions. The shirt was passed around the newborn vampires, who each __wasted no time in inhaling the scent of the shirt. If possible, their expressions became even more hunger. The crowd stirred in hunger and restlessness. _

_'Keep this scent in your mind. When the time comes to attack, focus only on finding this scent, no matter what it is you have to get past to find it.' the blond man said, smirking coldly. _

****End Flashback** **

Alice was then pulled from her vision, and I looked at her in horror. I glanced at Bella's shirt, then at her face. She was watching me with wide brown eyes and a confused expression.

'Was it a vision?' she asked me.

I could only nod. Yes, it was a vision... but what was it that we saw? Yes, it was a large group of newborn vampires, each taking turns in smelling Bella's shirt, the one that she was wearing right now.

'Change of plans!' Alice suddenly announced. 'We're not throwing the shirt out after all! Bella, you keep it, and don't let anyone take it.'

'You know that won't stop them.' I worried. I was concerned for my Bella, and confused for why her scent was the one being passed around.

'Why? Alice, what did you see?' Jasper asked, concern etched into his voice.

'I'll explain later.' Alice murmured, holding onto her husband's arm. 'Just don't let your shirt out of your sight.'

**Elena's POV. **

'Hey! You two! Stop making out and get back over here!' Emmett's yell caused me to groan and pull reluctantly away form Jake, withdrawing my arms from around his neck.

'Why?' I shouted back.

'We're going to head back to the hotel.' it was Carlisle who replied this time, a tinge of amusement in his voice.

I sighed. 'Fine.' I murmured, knowing they could hear it. I wrapped my hand around Jake's and we walked quickly back to the others.

Bonnie and Caroline both gave me a sly smile. Bella was pointedly ignoring both me and Jacob, to both my annoyance and confusion. Please tell me we weren't back to the petty disagreements...

The other vampires were looking both amused and faintly disgusted, probably at the prospect of making out with a 'wolf'. But really, Jake was a good kisser...

'Please, Elena, never think that again.' Edward complained suddenly, in reference to my thoughts.

I smiled sheepishly. 'Oops. Sorry.'

'_Anyway_,' Alice said pointedly, clapping her marble-white hands together. 'We're going to head back to the hotel for a while. You guys feel free to do whatever you want.' she chirped, grinning.

Jake waggled his eyebrows at me, but I smacked his arm and gave him a playful glare. 'Not that.' I muttered.

He sighed exaggeratedly and I let out a small giggle.

'Ooh! Elena! We just _have _to go shopping!' Caroline said excitedly. 'This great new store just opened a couple of days ago, and besides, it's Bonnie's birthday!'

My eyes widened. Oh, crap, Bonnie's birthday- _I had actually forgotten about my best friend's birthday, the whole reason we were here! I was such a terrible, terrible person! _

'Y-yeah!' I stammered nervously, giving Bonnie a sheepish grin. 'I might have left your gift back in Forks-'

'You didn't get me anything, did you?' Bonnie questioned with a raised eyebrow and crossed arms.

I sighed, looking down. 'I'm sorry. I completely forgot about a gift- happy birthday, though!'

She rolled her eyes, sighing exasperatedly. 'Elena Gilbert, you horrible person!' she teased with a wink. 'You can make up for it in the stores.'

'You can count on me.' I grinned.

'Hey!' Alice pouted, making us look back at her. 'You're really planning to go shopping without _me_?'

My eyes widened again when Caroline smiled and said, 'You can come, too!'

'No!' I blurted, horrified. Shopping? With Alice? I was all for a bit of light shopping, but with Alice... it was torture! There would not be one shop in the Mystic Falls mall left untouched by the end of today.

Alice raised a delicate eyebrow at me, smirking. 'Objection, Elena?'

I bit my lip. 'No, you can come.' I said through gritted teeth. Well, maybe I was overreacting. Maybe she wouldn't go too crazy on the shopping today, after all...

'Great!' Alice squealed, dancing over to us. 'Now I can check out _all _the stores!'

Or maybe she would.

**A/N: Ta-da! :)  
>Did you like the chapter? Hope you did! I really enjoyed writing this one.<br>And see? I told you I'd update quickly! I don't break promises that easily. And if I do, you can just virtual slap me! :D  
>Thank you for the brilliant reviews, they make my day! Please keep 'em coming. ;) I'm hoping fo rthis sequel to get as many reviews (353, people, 353! That's amazing!) as the original, Finding A Home. :)<br>Love you guys!  
>~AlisaPhenom. XoXo <strong>


	7. Let's Go Shopping

**Chapter 6. **

**Elena's POV. **

'Ugh.' I groaned as I collapsed into the cushy seat, holding an iced coffee in one hand and using the other to dump three remarkably heavy shopping bags by my feet. 'That was exhausting.'

Me, Caroline, Bonnie and Alice had been shopping for a grand total of three hours- so far. Alice had promised that we weren't done, and we were merely taking a break in the little Starbucks in the mall.

'Tell me about it.' Bonnie muttered, flopping down into the seat next to me with her caramel latte.

Bonnie and Alice had no drinks, obviously. They were vampires, after all. They simply watched us, amused, as they both sat down gracefully in the provided seats.

Alice smiled at me. 'I hate to say this, but I love the jeans you bought.' she gushed. 'I'm not normally one to praise jeans, but I have to say, those were a great buy.'

'What about the seven other _great buys _that you forced me to get?' I asked tiredly. Those 'great buy's included a long pretty blue dress, a short green dress, a lovely but complicated-looking orange blouse and a long, swishy black shirt which Alice said would look great when teamed with a red strappy top.

Well, she was the expert who could see into the future and everything. Who was I to argue with the seer?

'You're like a slave driver.' Bonnie complained playfully.

We all laughed, and we conversed lightly as Bonnie and I drank our drinks.

'I'm impressed with the range of stores in this little town.' Alice raised an eyebrow. 'We didn't have an Abercrombie and Fitch back in Forks.'

'I know.' I agreed. 'I was pretty disappointed when I got to Forks and couldn't get my hands on a bag covered with yummy shirtless men.'

That caused the group to dissolve into girly giggles, and I smiled. Despite Alice forcing us to buy half the stores here- she, of course, paid for everything.. 'her treat'- I felt a nice feeling of freedom, being here with three of my closest friends, that I hadn't really felt in a while. It was... nice.

'So, where to next?' Alice asked cheerily, eliciting a groan from me and an eye-roll from Bonnie.

'Please, don't make my birthday any more tedious than it already is.' Bonnie teased, making a face.

Alice laughed her melodic, tinkling laugh. 'Wouldn't dream of it.'

I brightened. 'Can we go home now?'

Caroline giggled at me. 'What happened to you, Elena? You used to adore shopping.'

I stuck my tongue out at the two vampires. 'Yeah, well, that was before I met Alice. She even managed to make _clothes shopping _a chore.' I winked at Alice's mock-offended expression.

'Clothes shopping is never a chore, Elena.' she chided.

I said nothing and just grinned at her. Okay, so I'd been exaggerating- today had actually been fun. I'd bagged some great buys and managed to get Bonnie the greatest present ever; well, in my opinion.

Being an unofficial member of the Cullen family had entitled me to my own bank account, curtesy of the apparently rich vampires themselves. Money was no issue with them. So I hadn't held back when me and Alice had separated from Caroline and Bonnie so we could go present shopping, and immediately went to the jewelry stores. It had taken nearly half an hour of window shopping before I spotted the perfect gift for a girl like Bonnie- it was a necklace. It was simple but pretty, and I could even get her name and date of birth engraved in the delicate witch-hat shaped pendant- for an extra fee of sixty dollars. The necklace itself was a huge three hundred dollars, but once I had spotted it, Alice had insisted I didn't let it go. So I bought it before we rejoined the other two and began shopping once again.

Of course, I hadn't given Bonnie her gift- not just yet. It was a sort of tradition between the three of is- me, Bonnie and Caroline- that we wait until sunset to open our presents. We always did it, and I didn't imagine that the tradition would break simply because I had guests.

Still, it wouldn't hurt to ask and be sure... 'Hey, Bonnie- we're still doing the whole presents thing at sunset, right?' I asked, biting my lip.

Bonnie nodded enthusiastically, grinning. 'Of course. And you definitely remembered to get me a present?'

'Of course.' I gave her a lopsided grin.

'You're going to love my gift!' Caroline gushed, and the two of them busied themselves in talking about the greatest birthday gifts they'd ever received while me and Alice started to converse.

''Presents thing at sunset'?' she questioned with a delicately raised brow and a faint smile. 'What's that all about?'

'Uh, just this thing we do...' I trailed of sheepishly.

'And?' she egged me on, chuckling.

I smiled. 'Whenever one us has a birthday- me, Caroline and Bonnie, I mean- we save all the presents we got from family and stuff and wait until the other two arrive, just before sunset. Then, when the sun's going down, the birthday girl opens all the presents she got that day.'

Alice grinned. 'That's sweet.'

'It's kind of stupid.' I admitted, smiling goofily. 'But we thought of the idea when we were five and it just kind of stuck. We think of it as a tradition...'

'It's nice.' Alice insisted, and then began counting the shopping bags.

Ha, good luck with that.

She rolled her eyes when she was done. 'We have a lot, but we still need more!' she announced.

I sighed. 'Seriously?'

'Yes.' she said seriously.

'My legs hurt.' I complained.

'Oh, Elena!' Alice threw her hands in the air, exasperated, and pouted, looking admittedly adorable. 'Pretty please?'

I frowned.

She persisted, 'Pretty please with sugar and shape-shifters on top?'

I couldn't stop the giggle that rose up. 'Alice, that didn't even make sense.'

'It didn't have to!' the psychic vampire clapped her hands together in glee. 'I can already see that you're going to give in. And we're going to buy lots more things!'

I frowned again. 'Of all people to gift with future-seeing, why did Whoever's-Up-There have to choose the one vampire who would use it to her own advantage?' I asked rhetorically. Though I did adore Alice- she and Rosalie were my sister's now, they were family.

'Because I'm loved.' Alice grinned as she motioned for us to get to our feet. We reluctantly did so, and I sighed as I threw my empty cup into the trash can on the way out of the Starbucks.

'Oh, and Elena?' Alice paused and turned to me with a huge smile on her face. 'Bonnie's going to love her present.'

**Jacob's POV. **

'Elena! You've been gone for four and a half freaking hours, where the hell are you?' I asked as soon as my beautiful girlfriend answered the phone.

She groaned. 'Alice forced us! She forced us to carry on!'

I chuckled as she continued, 'Please save us!'

'She's kidding!' a light, airy voice shouted in the background. 'They don't need saving, they're perfectly fine!'

'She lies.' Elena grumbled in response to Alice's shout.

I let the chuckles turn into laughs as I imagined the scenario.

'Why don't you come on home now?' I asked. I was in the Gilbert household kitchen, staring at the uncooked microwave meal in my hand. Honestly, I had never cooked anything more than a slice of toast in my life- Elena's aunt cooked the breakfast for us this morning, and every other time I pretended to cook, I was taking the credit for my dad's work. But really? The only thing I enjoyed about food was eating it. Man, I _loved _eating it. But I couldn't cook to save my life.

Even this microwave meal was too difficult to decipher- and it was a freaking _microwave meal_! Shouldn't it just be that you pop it in and press a few buttons?

It didn't help that Elena's fancy, up-to-date microwave was about as easy to use as a rocketship control panel.

'Why?' Elena asked, and I heard the amused smile in her voice.

'Honestly?' I chuckled. 'I can't cook.'

'I knew it.' her voice was both amused and triumphant. 'I knew I recognised Jenna's signature overcooked bacon this morning.'

I smirked. 'Nah, you just thought I was that great that I could mimic any cooking style.'

There was a pause. 'Nope, I just know _you_. Did you know you're a terrible liar?'

I sighed. 'Yeah, I figured that much.' I said with mock-glumness. 'So, are you coming home, or what?'

'I'm pretty sure we can head on home now.'

'Good.' I muttered. It was four o'clock in the afternoon- damn right she was going to head on home now.

'See you in a few?'

'You bet.' I smiled before hanging up and shoving the microwave meal back in the fridge. Elena's Aunt Jenna had gone on a date with her boyfriend, Alaric, and her brother was upstairs doing whatever. Honestly, I hadn't checked.

I grinned to myself as I thought of Elena's family. They were nice people- and I could see from Jenna where she got her slightly clumsy kindess, and I could see the loving devotion in her eyes when she looked at her brother. I could hear the happiness in her voice when she spoke of and to them. It helped that they were really nice people, too.

So, I sat in the kitchen and waited for Elena to get back.

And waited.

And waited.

Until finally, I heard the sound of the front door being pushed open, and was greeted with warm arms and Elena's familiar, intoxicating scent.

'Hey.' she murmured in my ear, burying her face into my shoulder.

I smiled, reluctant to pull away. 'What's it going to take to help you get over the torture that is shopping with the pixie?'

She pulled back and smirked mischievously at me. 'I think you know the answer to that one, wolf boy.'

I raised an eyebrow playfully. 'Oh, so we're resorting to name-calling now? Two can play at that game...' I chuckled as I realised I couldn't think of an even remotely bad name to call Elena. To me, every one of her faults was a perfection.

She laughed with me, planting a gentle kiss on my lips, which I immediately deepened, sweeping my tongue over her teeth and pulling her closer.

She jumped up, wrapping her legs around my waist, threading her fingers through my hair as she pulled her face away slightly.

'We can't.' she murmured breathlessly, looking regretful. 'I have to be at Bonnie's in, like, two hours.'

'We have plenty of time.' I protested, smiling.

'No... I'd prefer to have normal, smooth hair for the visit.' she teased, and then paused, another mischievous grin springing up. 'But that doesn't mean we can't make out.'

'Fine by me.' I muttered, and we picked up where we left off... only to be interrupted by a clearing of the throat. Again.

Aw, crap.

We broke apart immediately, and Elena's head whipped round to meet the wide eyes of her brother.

_Again... _

'Uh, sorry, I just.. came down to, uh... get a snack...' he trailed off, sighing, as he hurriedly moved forward and pulled a bag of chips from one of the cupboards and then practically flew out of the room.

Elena groaned, and I smiled. 'Well, that killed the mood.' I laughed.

She gave me a disapproving glance, and I noticed her flushed appearance and now-messy hair. It made her look... unbelievably sexy.

'I swear, if that happens one more time, we'll be forced to never be close again in this home.' she muttered.

I stared at her in horror. 'You wouldn't...'

'If it saves the three of us from _that_? Believe me, I would.'

I grinned, pecking her on the nose. 'Well, we'll just have to make sure that no one walks in on us again.'

She smirked, unwinding her legs from around my waist and withdrawing her hands, to my disappointment. 'Easier said than done. Now, are you hungry?'

'Starving.'

'Then I shall make you some food.' she winked at me before walking over to the fridge and peering in it, looking for ingredients.

I frowned. 'It makes me feel like less of a man when you have to cook for me.'

'You have nothing to worry about in that department.' she drawled, finally pulling out the very same microwave meal I'd taken out ten minutes ago. Looks like we have the same tastes in almost everything.

'Microwave spaghetti okay?' she asked.

'Perfect.' I mumbled, still mildly unhappy that our special moment had been interrupted.

So she cooked, and we ate, and then she checked the time and her eyes widened. Six o'clock. She had an hour before the sun went down, meaning she had forty five minutes to get to Bonnie's.

'I need to shower.' she said, getting up.

'Perfect, I'll join you.' I smiled.

She laughed. 'Not this time...' she paused, seemingly rethinking her answer. 'On second thoughts.' she smirked. 'I would love for you to join me.'

And so I did.

**A/N: There it is. :)  
>Some of it was a little dragged out and exaggerated, I know, but it was the best I could do right now. And to think, I almost completely forgot about updating today! :') Thank god I did, right?<br>Hope you liked it! Thank you for reading, thank you for reviewing, thank you for favouriting, and thank you for alerting! :D It all means so much to me!  
>Love you guys...<br>Until the next chapter! :)  
>~AlisaPhenom. Xoxo<strong>


	8. Birthday Presents

**Chapter 8. **

**Damon's POV. **

I smirked. 'So she asked about me, huh? Interesting.'

Stefan huffed. 'Don't flatter yourself, Damon. She seems pretty close with that guy. Would you mind explaining, by the way, who the hell all those other people actually _were_?'

I blinked innocently. 'And what makes you think _I _know?'

He sighed. 'Call it intuition.'

I shrugged, the smirk forming again. 'The pretty people are Elena's band of merry vampires.'

'I figured that much for myself, thanks.' Stefan said, rolling his eyes and peering, once again, through the boarding house window. Obviously looking to see if Katherine was on her way back or not- man, that boy was _whipped_.

'Different to us, obviously. They apparently don't have any blood. One of them reads minds, another one sees the future, and another one controls emotions.' I shrugged nonchalantly. 'I, personally, don't think they're as impressive as us. But that's down to opinion.'

He scowled, and then his eyes widened as he realised something. 'You mean that my thoughts were being read?' he asked urgently.

I grinned. 'That's the beauty of it. From what I can tell, they can't read the minds of us jolly old vampires. Handy, huh?'

He breathed out through his teeth. 'This is just too weird.'

'You're telling me.' I grumbled.

'And that guy she was with- he was a vampire?'

I laughed out loud of the prospect at that _boy _being a vampire. 'Of course he's not.' I scoffed. 'He's a werewolf.'

Stefan's head was once again creased with frown lines. 'Like Tyler Lockwood?'

I rolled my eyes. 'No, not like Lockwoof.'

He sighed. 'That wasn't funny, Damon.'

'Of course it was funny.' I smirked. '_I'm _funny.'

'So, what do you mean? What's he like if he's not like Tyler?'

I hesitated. 'I'd call him more of a shape-shifter.'

Stefan froze. 'Anything else that exists, while you're naming them?' he deadpanned.

I shook my head sadly. 'Now _that, _Stefan... _that _was not funny.'

**Elena's POV. **

'Crap.' I cursed under my breath, pulling my hair up into a messy ponytail. 'I'm late.'

I looked in the mirror and saw Jake sat on my bed behind me, smirking. I scowled at him.

'Wipe that goddamn smirk off your face! You know how much I hate being late!'

He stopped smirking immediately, but his eyes still held the spark of amusement. 'Sorry.' he said.

I sighed. 'Bonnie's going to kill me.' I mumbled as I swiped the mascara brush over my lashes once before running a dark red lipstick over my lips.

'Feeling edgy?' he questioned playfully when he saw me take a deep breath.

'Just a little.' I admitted. 'But... I think I'm going to need this.'

He raised an eyebrow questioningly.

'I need girl time, with my two best friends. I need to relax and forget about all those things that are worrying me.'

Jake smiled at me. 'Have fun.'

'Do I look okay?'

'You look beautiful.' Jake assured me quickly, pulling me in for a kiss.

I smiled against his lips. 'Careful. Don't want it to look like _you're _the one wearing make-up.'

He pulled away and grinned at me. 'Do you really think anyone would dare question my manliness?'

I eyed him dubiously, pursing my lips. 'Well, probably not.' _Not with those abs... _

My shower with Jacob had lasted ten minutes too long, and I had already missed the arranged meeting time. Thank goodness it took less than five minutes to get to Bonnie's house...

'Okay, so, I'd better get going.' I announced, straightening out my green lacy vest top and glancing down at my light blue faded jeans. I looked good, as Jacob had assured me, so at least I didn't need to worry about that.

'I'll miss you.' Jake murmured, kissing my cheek.

I giggled. 'I'll be gone for, like, an hour.' I paused. 'Or maybe two... well, I'm not sure how long I'll be gone.'

'Too long.' he muttered.

I smiled. Jacob Black was just too adorable. 'You're so cute.' I cooed, like I was talking to a baby.

He pouted, crossing his arms over his chest and looking away sulkily. 'I am _not _cute.'

I laughed, ruffling his hair and slinging my bag over my shoulder. 'Yes you are, but don't worry- I like cute.' I grinned. 'And it suits you.'

I was out the door before he could respond, sprinting down the street to Bonnie's house. As I ran, I mentally checked off my list of things I needed to bring: Bonnie's gift, a jacket, my bag... _yep, _I thought, _pretty sure I've got everything. _

As I predicted, I was knocking frantically on Bonnie's door within five minutes. The door opened, revealing a grinning Caroline. Behind her, Bonnie was literally on the floor laughing, arms folded over her stomach and tears streaming down her cheeks.

I raised an eyebrow, smiling. 'Did I miss a joke?'

Caroline shook her head, amused. 'Nope. You _are _the joke- we've been taking bets on how late you'd be.'

I frowned playfully, stepping inside. 'Well, that's not very nice.'

Caroline giggled, looking down at Bonnie. 'I tried telling her that it wasn't that funny. I guess she's just in a really good mood.'

I beamed. 'Great! So I'm not in trouble for being late?'

Caroline gave me a mock-glare and wagged her finger in my face. 'Of course you are, Missy! What time do you call this, hmm?'

I looked down, smirking. 'Sorry, mom.'

We laughed and waited for Bonnie to calm down. Which was a real task, to be honest. Every time she was coming close to losing her loud laughter, she took one look at our bemused faces and dissolved into giggles again, usually bringing down to the floor with her.

It took a good ten minutes to calm us down.

'So!' Bonnie chirped, clapping her hands together eagerly. 'What presents did you get me?'

Me and Caroline exchanged a falsely worried look, and I bit my lip as I looked back to Bonnie. Me and Caroline had had this planned since earlier today... I subtly shifted my gift bag further behind me with my foot.

'Uh, Bonnie...' I swallowed. 'About that.'

Bonnie rolled her eyes. 'Don't try that one again- not this year. You were talking about your present with Alice today, so don't play dumb. I demand gifts!'

I chuckled. 'Fine, fine. Here you go, Princess Bonnie.'

She smiled triumphantly and took the gift bag from my outstretched hand.

'What is it?' she asked eagerly.

I chuckled. 'Jeesh, Bonnie, impatient much? Open it and find out!'

She wasted no time in doing so. She reached in and pulled out the small, prettily wrapped package from the little green bag. A wide smile stretched across her face.

'Something little!' she squealed excitedly.

Both me and Caroline raised an eyebrow at her.

'The small things are usually the best things.' she said by way of explanation, then practically tore the wrapping paper off the present. Which revealed the box in which the necklace was delicately nestled.

She huffed impatiently. 'How much packaging did you need?'

I smirked. 'Only two layers, O Impatient One.'

She opened the box and gasped, staring wide-eyed at the beautiful necklace lay inside. Caroline giggled excitedly. Honestly, we were like little kids at Christmas- exchanging presents like this would never get old.

'It's beautiful.' Bonnie breathed, pulling the gift out and dangling it from between her fingers. She smiled at the witch-hat pendant, chuckling lightly. 'Ah, the beautiful irony.'

'Look at the back.' I enthused.

She did, and made an _aw_ sound. 'You engraved my name and birthday?'

'Sure did.' I grinned. 'You like it?'

'I love it!' she practically yelled, throwing her arms around me, the necklace still in her grasp. Her embrace was tight- too tight.

'And I'm glad.' I rasped. 'You can show your gratitude by removing your arms from around my torso- slowly, so no one gets hurt.'

She laughed. 'Oops.' she said, pulling back. 'Thank you so much, Elena.'

I smiled, hugging her lightly before pulling back. 'You're welcome.'

She grinned at me before turning to Caroline expectantly, mischievous grin on her face and her hand held out.

Caroline winked and handed over a big square package, wrapped in pink and silver paper, topped with a matching bow.

'Sorry if it's not small enough for you, Bon.' Caroline said flippantly, tossing her hair over her shoulder and grinning.

'I'm sure it's just as wonderful.' Bonnie assured her, eagerly tearing through the paper.

Bonnie gasped again. 'Oh, Caroline.' she sniffed, taking out the three beautiful rings. They each were decorated with initials: one with the initials BB, one with CF, and the final one with EG. The rings themselves were simple enough: thin gold bands with the small letters decorated with small blue gems at the front. But the simplicity is what made them stunning.

'Friendship rings.' Caroline said, grinning. 'The little stones are lapis lazuli- because, you know, it means something to each of us.'

'They're amazing.' Bonnie smiled at her blonde best friend. 'They're beautiful.'

'One for each of us.' Caroline explained, taking her own and slipping it on her pale finger. 'See?'

'And this way, we won't forget our initials.' I teased. 'Thank you, Caroline.'

'When we're married, we can remember who we used to be.'

I smiled. 'Before we lost ourselves to the evil that is mankind?'

'Exactly!'

'Looks like we both got you jewellery, Bon!' I said.

'I don't mind. You know me- the more things I can cast spells on, the better.'

I chuckled. 'Happy birthday, Bonnie.'

**Edward's POV. **

'So... I'm bored.' Emmett said, looking at me, Bella, Rosalie, Alice and Jasper expectantly. Esme and Carlisle insisted that we go entertain ourselves without them, and so we were lounging about the hotel lobby, trying to find ways to actually do that.

'We all are, Emmett.' Rosalie said patiently. 'Stop talking.'

Emmett sighed, frowning. 'Why are you all so _boring_?' he whined.

Rosalie froze, then slowly turned to face her husband. I grinned. _He's in for it now... _

'Boring, _Emmy_?' she questioned through gritted teeth. I suppressed a chuckle. Bella, however, was not so skilled in holding back her laughter, and let a giggle pass her lips. Rosalie's head snapped around to look at my girlfriend, who immediately blushed and buried her face in my chest.

_Stupid little human, _Rosalie sniffed in her thoughts as she turned back to talk sternly to her husband. I glared at the blonde vampire warningly.

Alice sighed. 'Well, at least we know _someone_'s having fun. Elena, Bonnie and Caroline are having the time of their lives at their little get together.' she smiled.

'I have an idea!' Emmett suddenly yelled. I groaned, putting my head in my hands. I didn't like his idea, not one bit- sometimes, just sometimes, I wished I didn't have mind-reading abilities. Then some of my brain cells might be spared from listening to Emmett's ridiculous thoughts. 'We should crash the party!'

Jasper grinned wickedly, only to be whacked over the head by Alice, who was frowning. 'No!' she said firmly.

'It's not even a party.' I muttered.

But the words that were uttered from my love's mouth in the next moment shocked me to my core.

'That's actually a good idea, Emmett.' Bella said, looking up and smiling at my brother.

'Bella...' I trailed off, glancing at her disapprovingly.

She rolled her eyes at me. 'Come on, Edward. It'll be fun!'

Rosalie snorted. 'Hardly.'

I suppressed a smirk at that. From Rosalie's thoughts, she had actually been thinking about how fun it would be to actually do that. Now, though, that the human girl she detests thought it was a good idea... I shook my head, amused. Girls and their petty rivalries.

'I'm not sure Elena would be particularly happy about that.' Alice protested.

'Who cares?' Bella asked, shrugging. Then her eyes widened as she seemed to realise what she said. She was currently the focus of two intense glares (Rosalie and Jasper), and three shocked and confused glances (Emmett, Alice and me).

'I mean, you know... I didn't mean it like that.' she insisted nervously, blushing furiously. 'I just...'

I stroked her hair comfortingly, blocking out Jasper's annoyed thoughts about my girlfriend. Over the past few weeks, after feeling her emotions when around Elena, Jasper's opinion of Bella had changed drastically, to my disappointment. He was questioning whether she was as good a person as we all believed.

That's why I chose to ignore him. The last thing I wanted to think about was the issues between my human girlfriend and my human sister.

'It's okay, Bella.' I murmured in her ear. 'We all know what you mean.'

Rosalie huffed indignantly, but shut up after a warning glare from me.

'Emmett, we are _not _breaking into Bonnie Bennett's home, and that's _final_.' Alice snapped, glaring at Emmett, who raised his hands defensively.

'Okay, okay, jeez. Sorry for trying to ease the boredom.'

Bella smiled apologetically at him, and then resumed her position buried in my chest.

'Then what _should _we do?' Jasper's voice had a whiny edge to it, making us all chuckle.

'Charades?' I suggested jokingly.

Rosalie made a face.

'You need to work on your joke-making skills, Eddie.' Emmett mocked.

I glowered at him. 'Don't call me _Eddie_. My name is Edward.'

'Eddie is a nickname.'

'It sounds ridiculous and undignified.'

'That's why it suits you.'

'For those reasons, I would have thought it would suit you better.'

'But my name's Emmett.' he said, cocking his head to the side confusedly.

I sighed in frustration, giving up.

Alice chuckled. 'You should know by now not to get into a battle of wits with Emmett. He always wins.'

'My husband, the funniest man in town.' Rosalie said lovingly, pulling her husband in for a kiss that made me hastily look away.

'Calm down with the lust.' Jasper complained. 'I'm dying here.'

'Not possible.' Alice chimed, kissing him on the cheek. Rosalie and Emmett instantly pulled apart.

'I think your whole family is crazy.' Bella whispered to me, smiling. I grinned and kissed her on the forehead.

'It's what suits us, love.'

'Craziness suits you?'

Rosalie rolled her eyes impatiently. 'Obviously.'

Alice sighed. 'Rosalie, can you stop hating Bella for just a few hours? I really want her to make it through the night alive.'

Rosalie huffed again. 'Well, tell _her _to stop making idiotic comments.'

'Rosalie.' I hissed, noticing the tears that suddenly filled Bella's eyes.

'I'll shut up when she does.' Rosalie said sweetly, before getting swiftly to her feet and moving as far away from Bella as she could. Honestly, my sister could be an absolute bitch. Of course, I knew _why _she hated Bella- but really, if that was all, shouldn't she hate Elena, too? For the same reason?

But Rosalie didn't hate Elena at all. In fact, the pair were very close. Closer than Bella and Alice. Was it really just that Bella was... dislikeable, to Rosalie?

I sighed. There was no use in me trying to work it out. Even with my abilities, trying to figure out Rosalie's motives would be almost impossible.

I just had to cross my fingers and hope for the best, I suppose.

**A/N: Woo-hoo, long chapter! Five whole pages- can you say awesome?  
>Of course, I'm not trying to toot my own horn or anything... ;)<br>Did you like the chapter? Hope you did! I loved writing this one... maybe that's why it's so long. I wrote this when there was no internet, too. I hate how I never have internet on a Saturday, and I'm thinking you probably do, too.  
>Thank you for all the amazing reviews, they all make me smile like an absolute idiot when I read them!<br>But bad news- school starts again this Tuesday. (Cue the boos and hisses)  
>Boo, hiss.<br>Which means that from 7:00am to 3:30pm, I won't have a chance to work on the chapters! Gasp!  
>So I'll just work extra hard on them when I get home from school. Don't expect them to be brilliant, though... am I exaggerating? I think I am. I know for a fact that I'm rambling, so I shall shush.<br>Thanks for reading and stuff!  
>~AlisaPhenom. XoXo<strong>


	9. The Talk

**Chapter 9. **

**Elena's POV. **

We were in Bonnie's bedroom, having more fun than I personally had had in a long time. We'd been talking about lots of thing, but our current discussion was revolving around whether Bonnie would rather make out with Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise. Brad Pitt won.

'How about you, 'Lena?' Caroline asked. 'Any celebrity crushes we should know about?'

I didn't hesitate before I shook my head firmly. 'No way. Jacob is the only man for me.'

Caroline made a face. 'At first I found the whole soul-mates thing romantic. Now I'm finding it creepy.'

I frowned. 'Why?'

'Well, doesn't it basically mean that you're stuck with just one guy for the whole of your life? And when I say stuck, I mean stuck... the two of you are practically inseparable.'

I shook my head again, smiling slightly. 'It doesn't necessarily mean that you're stuck with the one guy, but it wouldn't exactly be healthy to choose another guy over your Imprint. And we're not _inseparable_, exactly... just very close.'

'You're living together.' Bonnie pointed out.

I raised an eyebrow. 'So?'

'Just saying!' she smirked. 'You didn't live with Stefan.'

I grinned. 'No, I didn't.'

'Stefan wasn't good for you.' Caroline said suddenly, causing both mine and Bonnie's heads to whip towards her. She elaborated, 'Well, before you were with him, you were too much fun for your own good. The life of the party, whatever. Even after the... accident... you liked to have fun. I remember you spent a full three weeks drunk off your ass. But then, when you got with him, it was all just so... _boring_. You stopped drinking completely.'

I bit my lip and nodded my agreement, deciding it best not to mention how I got ever-so-slightly drunk on a road trip with Damon. 'You're right.'

'Much as I hate Stefan and would love to agree with you, Care, I don't see how not getting drunk is bad for a person.'

Caroline rolled her eyes. 'That's not my point. My point _is, _he stopped you from having fun!'

'Can we drop the subject, please?' I asked with an innocent smile. 'Stefan is the last person I want to talk about right now.'

'Of course.' Bonnie said, grinning. 'Let's talk about other things, instead. Your _current _boyfriend, for instance.'

I smiled. 'That's a nice subject.'

'Yeah.' Caroline nodded. 'So spill! How many times have you _done it_?'

I blinked and Bonnie pressed a hand to her mouth to cover her giggles. 'Ex_cuse_ me?' I asked, grinning goofily despite my horror that Caroline would be so blunt.

'You hear me.' she sniffed. 'There was obviously this morning, Miss Sex Hair. But when else? Should we be expecting little tiny shape-shifter babies soon?'

I faltered at the mention of babies. That was a line I did _not _want to approach right now. So I ignored that part of her question and simply shrugged, a sly smile on my face. 'In truth? I may have lost count.'

The three of us dissolved into giggles. Our laughing fit didn't stop- quite the opposite, actually- when Mrs Bennett came into our room offering snacks and finger foods.. and chocolate dipped strawberries. It wasn't even that funny, really, but we only laughed harder.

Mrs Bennett raised an eyebrow at us. 'I'll just leave them here.' she said doubtfully, leaving the tray of snacks on Bonnie's bedside table.

We eventually calmed down, though.

'I don't remember ever laughing so much in my life.' I gasped, swiping my finger under my eyes to remove joyful tears.

Bonnie sniffed, letting out another chuckle. 'Me neither- apart from earlier.' she grinned. 'This definitely competes with earlier.'

We moved onto other, less personal topics as the night progressed, and eventually, it was time for us to go home when I got a phone call off of Jenna.

'Hey.' she said through the phone as I pressed a finger to my lips at Caroline and Bonnie.

'Hey.' I said in turn. 'What's up?'

I could practically hear her raised eyebrow. 'What's up? Elena, it's eleven thirty. I got back from my date half an hour ago, and frankly, it's not good when the teenager is staying out later then the adult.' she chuckled. 'Come home now.'

I sighed wearily. 'Fine.'

'Hey, don't take on that tone with me- your boyfriend wants you home, too.' she said, a warning tone in her voice. I brightened at the mention of Jacob.

'I'll be right there.' I promised, smiling.

She sighed, and probably rolled her eyes. 'Young love. See you soon.'

'Bye.' I muttered, hanging up. 'I have to get home now.' I added in explanation to Bonnie and Caroline, who released sighs that were much like my own.

'What time is it?' Caroline asked. There was no (working) clock in Bonnie's room- it 'mysteriously' broke down earlier in the evening, when I accidentally threw an orange at it, a little too hard.

We had fun, all right.

**Jacob's POV. **

I yawned. It was getting late- nearly midnight. Well, half an hour to midnight- like anyone really cared about the specifics. Elena should be home soon, she was on the phone to Jenna now.

Jenna came bustling back into the room at that minute, smiling apologetically. 'Sorry. She's on her way now.' she paused before adding. 'You know, she was very eager to get here when she realized you were waiting. You have a good connection.'

I nodded awkwardly. I really didn't want to have this conversation with Elena's aunt, who, for all intents and purposes, was acting as both Elena's mom _and _dad. 'Yeah, we do.' I agreed.

Jenna hesitated and took a subtle deep breath before continuing, 'You seem very close. Have you...? You know... done the deed...' like me, she winced at her own words. I cringed in my seat, feeling my skin burn even hotter than it already was.

'I, uh...' I sighed. 'Yes.'

She nodded, looking anywhere but at me. 'I just want to, you know, remind you- be safe and all. And, you know... don't hurt her. Elena, I mean. She's had too much hurt in her life- she doesn't need any more.'

I frowned. 'Of course.' I said firmly.

Jenna let out a small breath- of relief, I presume- and nodded again, smiling. 'Good. That conversation ends there, then, and let us never speak of it again.'

'Gladly.' I said quietly, grateful when I heard the tell-tale sounds of Elena arriving home. 'If you'll excuse me, I'll go greet Elena.'

She didn't say anything, just let me pass. I practically ran out into the hallway and wrapped my arms around Elena's small waist, smiling into her shoulder.

'Someone's happy to see me.' she breathed in my ear, and I heard the soft smile in her voice.

'You got that right.' I murmured in agreement, pulling back to smile at her, leaning in to kiss her softly.

'Are you tired?' I asked her.

She nodded slightly. 'Kind of.' she smirked. 'But I'm awake enough to pick up where we left off earlier.'

I grinned at her. 'Good.'

She called out to her aunt. ''Night, Jenna!' she yelled, receiving a 'Goodnight, Elena' in turn. She wrapped her hand around mine and pulled me up to her room. It was almost s if I didn't have a room of my own- I'd only been in it once, to unpack.

'So. Your aunt just pretty much gave me her equivalent of The Talk.' I announced casually as she pulled me onto her bed.

She froze, staring up at me with wide eyes. 'She _what_?' a beautiful blush was creeping across her olive cheeks.

I nodded solemnly, repressing the smile that built up at her expression. 'It was pretty awkward.'

'Oh, god.' she groaned, burying her face in my chest. 'Please tell me you're kidding.'

I shook my head, smirking.

'What did she say?'

'The usual... with the Jenna twist.'

She frowned. 'On your first day here?' she let out some air between her teeth. 'Wow, that's harsh.'

She then proceeded to lean her head to my neck and leave a trail of butterfly kisses down to my shoulder and back, giving my neck the occasional nibble now and then. I pulled her bod closer to mine and threaded my fingers through her hair, pressing my nose to her chocolate locks and inhaling the sweet scent of her strawberry shampoo.

She giggled against my neck. 'I love you, you know.' she murmured.

'I know.' I smiled. 'Do I even have to tell you that I love you too?'

'Of course you do.' she pulled back and pouted, crossing her arms over her chest. 'Or you're not getting _anything _tonight.'

I gave a mock gasp and pressed a hand to my chest. 'You wouldn't!'

She smirked. 'You know I would.'

I grinned and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. 'I love you.' I said slowly, before she pulled my head to hers once more and locked her lips with mine.

It didn't take a genius to work out what happened next.

**Alice's POV. **

I rolled my eyes as Edward ran a hand over Bella's pale cheek as she slept. My mind drifted back to her earlier comment about Elena- and the one after that, and the one after that... Jasper had told me that the comments weren't intentional, but she was feeling incredibly jealous whenever Elena was even mentioned. It made me feel uneasy to know that my second best friend was actually _jealous _of my best friend/sister.

Edward's head snapped towards me and he gave me a dark glare. I responded by sticking my tongue out playfully at him before, suddenly, everything went blank and I was hit with a vision.

****Vision** **

'_WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT KEEPING A LOW PROFILE?' _

_The blonde male vampire was roaring at the others, who were surrounded by burning pieces of car and chunks of each other's bodies. They glanced at each other sheepishly, with an almost frightened expression. They were frightened of the blonde vampire. _

_'Five minutes. I leave you alone for FIVE MINUTES, and you're already killing each other!' he continued to fume, throwing each and every newborn vampire a ferocious glare as he spoke. He then closed his eyes for a moment as he seemed to try to calm himself down. 'If this ever happens again, there will be trouble. You can all easily be replaced.' _

_There was a low grown heard from the mass of vampires, but it was ignored. _

_'Why are we even going to this town- Mystic Falls?' a handsome black-haired male asked, frowning. _

_The blonde man- obviously the leader- glowered at the black-haired male. 'I already told you. We're going after the girl with the nice scent, and her coven.' _

_'Why?' a dark-haired girl who looked no older than sixteen asked. _

_'We have a grudge against them.' the leader said. _

_'We do?' someone else questioned. _

_'Stop asking questions!' the leader started to yell again, then stopped himself. 'Just know this; they're very powerful, and large in numbers. Their eyes are yellow- yellow from age. They have powers, powers that our different from ours... and, worst of all, they drink animal blood.' _

_There were a few disgusted noises from the crowd, a few gasps, a few jeers. _

_'We're going to destroy them all, don't you worry about that.' a cold smirk was fixed upon the leader's face as he slowly backed away. 'For now, stay out of trouble.' _

****End Vision** **

**A/N: I am so sorry that I haven't updated in so long! I'm so awful!  
>There is a formal apology and explanation on my profile, but if you haven't seen it, it basically tells you how there has been a problem with my LibreOffice that I have been unable to fix until now. Thank you for being patient and bearing with me, it means a lot!<br>So, yes. :) Anyway. I know this isn't a lot and there hasn't been much action lately, but hopefully that will change from now on! Be expecting mind-blowing action. (Ha.)  
>Thank you so much for reviewing and alerting and favouriting and stuff, that means so much to me! :D<br>Love you guys.  
>~AlisaPhenom. XoXo<strong>


	10. Suspicions

**Chapter 10. **

**Elena's POV. **

I woke up the next morning to a loud clapping noise near my ear, feeling groggy and still tired. I groaned as my eyes fluttered open blinked against the sudden light.

I realized that my head was lay on something warm and hard, and I glanced up to see my Jacob just waking up. It was his chest that my head was lay on- no wonder it felt so comfortable.

I frowned when the clapping noise sounded again, and tilted my head to the side to see my little brother clapping his hands together loudly to wake us both up, a sly grin on his face.

'Oh, good, you're awake.' he smirked, his hand movements stopping altogether.

I glared at him. 'What are you doing in my room?' I asked, my voice quiet.

'Waking you up.' Jeremy rolled his eyes. 'Obviously. Why is he in here, by the way?' he added patronizingly, raising an eyebrow at Jacob, who was now staring at my little brother with an expression that was a mix between confusion and annoyance. I didn't blame him- the dream I'd been having before I was so rudely awakened was a nice one.

Not that I remembered it at all- my mind was funny that way.

'He just is.' I snapped, propping myself up on the bed with my elbows, allowing Jake to sit up.

Jeremy rolled his eyes again. 'Whatever. Just get up, it's ten o'clock.'

I frowned. 'In the morning?'

He chuckled, getting to his feet and turning to walk out. 'What do you think?'

I sighed when he left. 'Sometimes I can't stand him.'

Jake laughed and pecked me on the cheek. 'He was just waking us up.' he soothed.

'No, he was looking for ways to irritate me, like he always does.' I argued, running my fingers through my hair.

Me and Jake had gotten dressed after our little rendezvous, and were both, thankfully, in our PJ's. It would have been just awkward if we'd both been naked when my little brother came into the room, especially since our sheets were on the floor.

'We should get dressed.' I paused to yawn, stretching my arms out. 'Then have some breakfast. Then decide what we're doing today... it's Sunday, right?'

'Sunday it is.' Jake smiled, getting out of bed. He was wearing nothing but sweatpants, and I quickly found myself getting distracted by his muscles. He was honestly the most beautiful man I had ever met...

I shook my head quickly, feeling an unwanted blush spread across my cheeks as I snapped my attention back to the words Jake was saying. Honestly, I had no clue what he was talking about- maybe if I just nodded every now and then, he wouldn't notice if I just... looked at him for a while...

I heard him sigh. 'Elena, you're not listening to me.'

'Hmm?' I raised an eyebrow, lifting my eyes to his.

He smirked. 'I never thought I, a _man_, would have to say this, but my eyes are up here.'

'But your abs are down there.'

He laughed and moved toward me, wrapping his arms around my back in a gentle embrace. I sighed in content and snaked my arms around his neck, standing on my very tip-toes to lean my face into his shoulder. He was so tall.

'Can we just not move today?' I asked quietly, finding myself far too comfortable in his warm arms.

He chuckled. 'As much as I wish we could, we can't.'

'Why?' I groaned, snuggling in closer to my shape-shifter boyfriend.

'Because it's Sunday, and it's ridiculously sunny. We can go do something, somewhere...'

I paused and pulled back slightly so I could show him my raised eyebrow. 'There's really nothing much to do over here. I would know.'

He hesitated. 'Is there a beach?'

'No.'

'Theme park?'

'No.'

'Museum?'

'_No_.'

'Zoo?'

'No.'

He rolled his eyes. There _is _a zoo, Elena, you showed me it yesterday.'

I sighed. 'I don't want to go to the _zoo_.'

He smirked at me. 'Why not?'

I grinned at him. 'Because I have my own animal right here. And besides- what if you fall in love with one of the wolves on display?' I pouted mockingly.

He laughed. 'I'm all yours, don't worry.'

I leaned in and planted a kiss on his cheek. 'We're still not going to the zoo.'

He frowned. 'There has to be something we can do.'

'Well...'

'Yes?' he looked at me expectantly. I pretended to be deep in thought, then shook my head sadly.

'Nope, nothing to do.' I smiled. 'Let's just stay here, then...'

'We could relax in the garden.'

I nodded slowly. 'That's good... at least it wouldn't require much moving.'

He snorted. 'Why did I have to fall in love with such a lazy girl?'

I smacked him on the arm, grinning. 'Hey!'

He laughed, and I pouted again.

'I'm not lazy.' I crossed my arms over my chest stubbornly.

'Of course you're not.' he grinned. He didn't sound sincere enough for my personal liking.

'Say that I'm not lazy.' I ordered.

He rolled his eyes. 'But you _are_ lazy.'

I paused, then frowned. 'Oh, my god, I am.'

He chuckled. 'The truth has been spoken.'

'I'm lazy!' I realized. 'I'm going to be fat by the time I'm thirty eight, because I'm lazy!'

'You'll always be beautiful.' he said automatically.

I gaped at him. 'I just had a seriously doubtful moment about my personal health. Shush.'

He smirked and backed away with raised hands, and then he busied himself with picking out my clothes for the day.

'I don't like those shorts.' I said once I noticed the bright orange shorts he had picked out. 'They are absolutely hideous, and I have no idea why the hell I even bought them. Alice would kill me if she saw those. Put them away.'

He sighed. 'I don't see why you girls are so obsessed with clothes. They're just scraps of material that cover up the good bits.'

I glared at him and threw a book at his head. It just bounced off, leaving him looking unaffected and amused.

'I'm just being honest.' he insisted, but he threw the horrid shorts back in my closet and picked out a much more suitable blue denim pair. He also picked out a strappy black tunic top, which I liked. I smiled warmly at him.

'Much better. And I have an idea of what we're doing today.'

'And what's that?' he asked with a raised eyebrow.

'We're going jogging.' I told him, confirming my own words with a firm nod.

He gaped at me. 'Are you serious?'

'Deadly.'

He snapped his jaw shut and stared at me. 'Is this about the lazy thing? Because, honestly, I was just kidding. You're not lazy at all-'

'I don't care, I want to go jogging anyway.'

He groaned. 'Can't you go with one of your female friends?'

'Why?'

'As much as I'd love to spend the day covered in sweat with you... wait, let me start over. I _don't _want to spend the day covered in sweat with you.'

I frowned. 'It's just jogging. I used to do it all the time.'

'It's not me I'm worried about.' he smirked, causing another book to go flying towards his head. He ducked out of the way and laughed, hurrying out of the room before he could be attacked again.

'That means I'm picking a new outfit, just so you know.' I called out after him, only hearing a grunt in reply. I smiled to myself- I had so much fun when I was with Jacob. This wasn't the kind of thing I would be doing, say, four weeks ago, when I was still with Stefan.

But now I felt more free than I ever had before, and it was wonderful. I picked out a different outfit, one more suitable for jogging- a pair of red flannel shorts, a red vest top and a red zip-up jacket. Not that I would need the jacket- it looked to be about twenty degrees outside.

I glanced at my phone on the bedside table and picked it up, groaning in annoyance when I realized the battery was out of charge. I quickly plugged it in- looks like I wouldn't be taking that with me, then.

I got changed quickly, actually looking forward to my Sunday with Jacob- it was going to be interesting, to say the least.

**Damon's POV. **

I frowned as I tossed the bag of blood from my right hand to my left, hating the feel of how cold it was compared to how it would be fresh. But, if I was going to clean up my act, I needed to start by drinking from blood bags- no matter how bad the blood tasted. At least it was better than animal blood.

'Cleaning up your act?' a cool voice came from behind me, and for a fleeting, hopeful moment, I thought it was Elena. But, of course, it wasn't Elena. That much was obvious. Elena wouldn't be able to sneak up on me like that- hell, Elena wouldn't even be at the boarding house, especially not in the cellar near the freezer of bagged blood.

'Katherine.' I greeted coldly, spinning on my heel to face her. She was wearing a red corset top and black leather pants- actually rather conservative, considering most of her other outfits.

She smirked at me. 'Why the sudden change in snacks? It wouldn't have anything to do with trying to impress my dull-as-dishwater doppelganger, now, would it?'

I glowered at her. 'You know, I don't know what me and Stefan ever saw in you. You're a complete bitch.'

She rolled her eyes. 'Thanks for noticing.' she said dryly. She made a face at the blood bag in my hand. 'Wouldn't you rather just go for someone's neck? It's so much more... appealing.'

'I don't know how you even have Stefan fooled.' I continued, as if she hadn't spoken. Her heels clacked against the cold marble floor as she walked closer to me, a cold smirk on her face. A smirk that I had actually grown accustomed to.

'Because he _loves _me, Damon. And you love me, too.' she paused, tilting her head to the side, causing a dark curl to fall into her cruel chocolate eyes. 'You just don't realize it yet.'

'I never loved you.' I spat.

She grinned. 'We both know that's not true, my sweet Damon. You loved me in 1864, whether you want to believe it or not. And deep down, you know that you still love me now.' her slim finger ran up and down my chest. I froze in place.

'What, is Stefan not pleasing you?' I sneered at her.

She smirked. 'Of course he's pleasing me. Stefan _always _pleases me.' she hesitated. 'I'm just concerned that _I _may not be pleasing _him_. I have a feeling he may still be pining after Little Miss Sunshine.'

I knew she meant Elena.

'You sound jealous.' I mocked, smirking viciously. Even though it did bother me that Stefan might be after Elena... he couldn't be, could he?

… Could he?

'So do you.' she chuckled. 'If you need a distraction from the constant headache of pining after a girl you can never have, come find me. I'll be around.'

I didn't respond; I simply ripped the cap off the blood bag, rather violently, and gulped down the thick red liquid it contained, feeling completely grateful when Katherine stalked away and out of the room.

**Jacob's POV. **

I had to admit, it felt nice to be doing something as normal as jogging- especially with Elena. She wore her jogging outfit, with tattered old converse and one earphone hanging out of her left ear, so she could still listen to me when I talked- but I still heard the sound of her upbeat music playing. Her hair was tied back in a messy ponytail that bounced with every step she took, and she wore no make-up- yet she was still the most beautiful girl I had ever seen.

We'd jogged through the streets and it had been fun. We'd only been out for around twenty minutes now. Elena was sweating lightly, from both the high temperature and the excursion of running, but I don't think either of us minded too much.

Elena took another swig from her water bottle, then offered some to me. I declined. I didn't need water- I was a shape-shifter, I had excellent stamina.

'This place is so different to Forks.' I murmured quietly, tilting my head up to the blue sky.

I glanced at Elena as she nodded slowly, not dropping her pace. She was a good runner- it made me wonder if she used to be part of a sports team or something, or maybe she was just so used to running from evil vampires. That'd be good practice.

'It is.' she said, her voice breathless. 'It's a lot hotter. But something tells me that's not what you meant.'

I shook my head, smiling at her. 'Everything just seems... I don't know, friendlier. Maybe it's to do with the fact that it doesn't reek of sparkling vampires.'

She chuckled. I heard her music change to a _Muse _song.

'I think you're forgetting that this Mystic Falls is still a supernatural magnet. It won't be long before we find half-human-half-foxes or something like that around here.' she grinned.

I rolled my eyes. 'I doubt that'll happen.'

'Don't jinx it.' she said.

We ran past the woods, and fell silent as the trees passed us.

'Me, Caroline and Bonnie used to play there all the time.' Elena said quietly.

I looked at her. 'You did?'

It didn't exactly look like the kind of place you'd want to play in.

She nodded. 'That, of course, was _before _we found out about vampires and werewolves and all that crap. We'd never tell our parents where we were, of course.' a small smile crossed her face. 'I remember my mom and dad would freak out if they ever found us.'

'Why would they be in the woods?' I asked before I could stop myself.

Her smile dropped, and her eyes looked sad. 'I don't know.' she admitted. 'I never really thought about that.'

There was a short pause before she spoke again. 'Did you know my dad used to hunt vampires?'

That surprised me.

'He did?' I asked, my shock etched into my voice. My eyebrows were practically in my hairline.

She sighed. 'Yep. He never told me, and neither did my mom. He and my Uncle John were vampires, and I only found out by accident when I visited our old lakehouse and stumbled upon a room filled with stakes and crossbows.' she shuddered. 'That was a creepy moment.'

'I can see why.' I murmured, pursing my lips. So Elena's dad was a hunter... weird. And ironic, really- the man's daughter ended up dating one, and being stalked by another.

How awkward.

**Bella's POV. **

I watched Edward carefully.

I knew there was something he wasn't telling me- I could just tell. He couldn't look me in the eye when I asked what was wrong, and he and Alice exchanged almost constant glances.

'Is something the matter?' I asked again, ignoring Alice's exasperated eye-roll and Edward's patient sigh.

'No. Bella, everything's fine, okay?' he answered, cupping my cheek in his ice-cold palm.

I crossed my arms over my chest stubbornly. 'Then why are you acting like you're hiding something?'

'Could you please drop it?' Alice snapped.

I looked at her in shock. Alice had never snapped at me before... she'd never even acted seriously impatient with me before, like she had been doing the past day and a half.

Since we came to Mystic Falls.

I glanced at Edward and saw he was glaring at Alice. She glowered back.

Jasper approached Alice and stroked her spiky hair lightly. 'Calm down.' he soothed, and as soon as the words left his lips, Alice relaxed, as did the whole room. I felt calming waves wash over me.

I frowned when they left and turned to bury my face in Edward's shoulder. I'd been doing that a lot lately.

'Bella.' Edward murmured, and I felt him kiss the top of my head. I didn't respond, only looked at him with watery eyes. I hoped my puppy dog look would be enough to make him tell me at least _something_...

He frowned at me. 'Is there something in your eyes?'

I blinked. 'Uh, no.' I muttered, looking down as I felt the head spread across my cheeks like wildfire. Damn my stupid blush.

He smiled a crooked smile. 'The puppy dog look won't work on me, love. I'm not that weak.'

I frowned at him. 'You could have told me that before.'

'I didn't think you would stoop to using it against me.'

I groaned and slammed my head into his shoulder, letting out a tiny whimper when my nose collided with his rock-hard skin. Smooth.

'Are you okay?' he asked, his velvety voice laced with concern.

'Fine.' I grumbled. 'Just fine.'

**Alice's POV. **

I cursed when Elena didn't answer her phone. Again. I'd wanted to hang out with her today, rather than sit around the hotel with Edward and Bella. Oh, well- at least Jasper was with me, too. Bella's whining and almost constant jealousy of Elena was starting to irritate me, a lot.

'Elena's not answering her phone.' I complained.

'We're well aware of that.' Edward replied dryly. He was still angry that I had been rude to Bella before.

I made a face at him. 'Do you think something's wrong?'

'Calm down, Alice.' Jasper chuckled. 'She's probably just out with the dog or one of her friends or somethin'.'

I pouted. '_I'm _one of her friends, too. Though I'm not complaining if she hasn't invited me to a day out with _Jacob_.'

'What's wrong with Jacob?' Bella asked, a little too quickly.

Edward fell silent, Jasper looked away and I shifted unnecessarily on my feet.

'His kind and our kind don't get on, Bella.' I said softly. 'You know that.'

She frowned but didn't say anything.

I stuck my tongue out at her when she looked away. A childish move, yes, but one I had been doing a lot. I found it fun to behave like a child, especially since I was god-knows how old.

'But why hasn't she taken her phone out with her?' I asked, changing the subject by Elena's lack of reply.

Jasper shrugged. 'I don't know, darlin'. Maybe the battery's dead or somethin'.'

I smiled at him and his charming Southern drawl. It was almost as if he felt right at home here in Virginia, with it having played such an important part in the Civil War that he fought in in 1864.

I briefly wondered what we would do when we returned to Forks in two weeks time. Would Elena think it necessary to move in with her werewolf boyfriend- what, with the Imprint and all...? It was selfish of me, but I hoped she would stay with us. Her company was wonderful, even if she was stubborn as a mule.

I was still bothered about the visions I had been having lately, of course. They were... disturbing, to say the least. I had no idea who this mystery man was, or why he had created an army of newborn vampires to come after us- all I knew was that he seemed to be after Bella, and apparently us Cullen's. But why? Why would they be after us?

It could be Victoria, I suppose- but I would have seen that, I'm sure. It was rather suspicious that I hadn't seen her in any of my visions lately, but I'd been looking out for her- I'd know if she was behind any of what was happening.

But I desperately wanted to know the identity of the fierce blond man who was ordering the newborns about. I had conferred with Edward and the rest of my family- excluding Bella and Elena, of course- and it was confirmed that none of us had ever even seen him before, except in one of Charlie Swan's police files. He had been reported missing over a year ago, and his poor family were still searching for him.

They would, of course, never find him. He was a vampire. It didn't look like he even wanted to be found.

So why would he have any kind of vengeance against our family and Bella? When had he ever even encountered us, and how did he know so much about us and our powers? About our strange golden eyes?

I shook my head, like that was make more sense of the thoughts whirring about inside my head. It didn't work, obviously. I was still just as confused as ever, and I really didn't like being confused.

'I'm just going to the bathroom.' Bella's murmured statement interrupted my thoughts, and we all nodded to her. Edward withdrew his arms from around her and she left the room, heading over to the bathroom to do what she needed to do.

Edward instantly spoke. 'It's obvious that someone's telling him information about us.'

I nodded my agreement. 'And it's clear that it's someone who doesn't like us. Our eyes, yellowed with age?' I made a face. 'Ew.'

Jasper chuckled, then returned to seriousness. 'But why would someone be out to get Bella? It _was_ her shirt they were passing around.'

Edward nodded, looking troubled. 'Unless it was someone trying to get even with me- you know, making me upset by killing my mate.'

'But who would want that?' I asked. 'The only person I can think of who would want revenge is Victoria, and she's not a part of this.'

'How do you know?' Jasper asked. 'The cowardly bitch could be working behind the scenes or somethin'.'

I paused. 'That's a possibility.' I said slowly. 'Actually, that's very likely.' I beamed at my husband. 'My clever man.' I purred.

'So Victoria is one possibility.' Edward froze. 'Bella's coming back. We'll discuss it with the rest of the family later.'

I nodded. 'We will.'

Bella bounded into the room and offered us all a smile. 'Did I miss anything?' she asked, returning to her position on Edward's lap.

We all exchanged a look.

'No.' I chimed.

'Nope.' Jasper smirked.

'Not at all.' Edward smiled.

She looked between us all with suspicion before her narrowed brown eyes landed on Edward.

'Something you're not telling me?' she asked.

He shook his head, beaming. 'Nothing.'

**A/N: Super yes. Seven pages and over 3500 words while watching the extremely distracting Jesus Christ Superstar- can you say accomplishment? ;)  
>Hope you liked it! I wanted to make it long, so yes, woo. I think I did that.<br>Feel free to leave a review! My sincere apologies for the lack of action so far- there is, obviously, the Newborn Battle coming up, and a few other twists. Be looking forward to that!  
>Thanks for your patience and loyalty;D And your reviews! They rock, too. :D<br>~AlisaPhenom. XoXo **


	11. Drama At The Grill

**Chapter 11. **

**Elena's POV. **

'Sorry.' I smiled apologetically at Alice and Rosalie, who were glaring impatiently at me in my doorway.

'Sorry?' Alice squeaked, her golden glare intensifying. 'Elena, you didn't even call us!'

'My phone was dead.' I said in explanation.

'You didn't think to charge it?' Rosalie asked dryly.

I chuckled. 'That's why I didn't call. I was out, jogging with Jacob.'

The two beautiful vampires both wrinkled their noses at that.

'Is that why this whole place reeks of sweaty dog?' Alice asked, disgust evident in her voice.

I frowned at her. 'That's not nice.' I chided.

She grinned. 'Neither was leaving us hanging.'

Rosalie beamed. 'Yeah. Tid for tad.'

I rolled my eyes and opened the door wider, gesturing for them to come in. 'Come inside.' I said. We walked through to the kitchen. I smirked. 'Coffee?' I offered teasingly.

Alice rolled her eyes. 'Even if I was human, I wouldn't have a coffee.'

I raised an eyebrow. 'Why not?'

'It's too bitter.'

'So are you.'

She grinned and stuck her tongue out at me. We all laughed as I flipped on the kettle. I was never one for fancy coffee makers or anything like that.

'So, what did you guys do while I was gone?' I asked nonchalantly as I picked up the now-boiled kettle and poured it into a mug with some coffee beans.

I glanced back at Rosalie as she shrugged. 'Oh, you know- the usual. We went hunting for a while after a few hours of being bored at that hotel.'

I raised an eyebrow. 'I thought you were looking particularly healthy today. Where'd you guys hunt?'

'We went out of town.' Alice smiled.

Rosalie beamed. 'And I got me some grizzly bear.'

I sipped my coffee, and then cursed when it scalded my tongue.

Alice giggled and Rosalie rolled her eyes. 'Well, that was stupid.' the gorgeous blonde muttered.

I frowned. 'You know, I sometimes feel that my pain is far too amusing for you.'

'It is.' Alice grinned.

'Oh,' I mumbled playfully, 'well, thanks.'

'We're kidding.' Alice smiled, then sighed. 'But, if I'm being honest, I haven't been in the best of moods today.'

I looked at her, interested. 'And why is that?'

She shrugged. 'Bella.' she answered, as if that one name was explanation enough.

'What's she done now?' Rosalie groaned. I didn't say anything, just looked expectantly at Alice, waiting for an explanation.

Alice hesitated. 'Well, you want me to be completely honest?' she asked.

We both nodded.

'She's jealous of you!' she blurted quickly, looking at me. 'Jasper told me, and Edward- though reluctant- admitted that Jasper was feeling irrational bursts of jealousy from Bella whenever she's around you! And plus, it's obvious! She's so frustrating!'

Alice ranted on for a few more moments while I listened, and Rosalie occasionally butted in with a few comments.

I was dismayed at the news. I mean, come on. Seriously? Bella, jealous? Of me, of all people? What in hell did I have that she had to be jealous of?

'What's she so jealous about?' I asked hesitantly. 'I mean, surely it's not Jacob...' I trailed off. Wasn't it? I knew all about their past... involvements. Did Bella still harbour feelings for _my_ boyfriend?

'Is it?' I added worriedly, biting my lip.

'I don't know.' Alice admitted.

'But we're sure as hell going to find out.' Rosalie growled.

'Hey, listen...' I hesitated. 'Don't be too hard on her, okay? I'm sure there's a rational explanation for it all.'

They both rolled their eyes, but complied.

'How was _your _day?' Alice asked with a smile.

I grinned shyly. 'Wonderful.' I answered.

'Because it was with Jacob, or because it actually _was_ wonderful?'

I blushed. 'Both.'

'I'd find that cute, if it wasn't literally a dog that you were in love with.' Rosalie smiled innocently.

I scowled. 'He's refraining from making quips about you guys. Please do the same for him.'

'Of course.' Alice said, elegantly rising from her seat. 'So, it's Sunday. We need to make plans for tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that... and basically the rest of the week.'

I groaned. 'Oh, god.'

Rosalie smirked and grabbed my elbow while Alice grabbed the other, and they dragged me up to my room.

I wrenched my arms from their grasp and threw myself on my bed with another groan. 'Please, nothing too extravagant.' I pleaded.

'No promises.' they said together.

**Jacob's POV. **

'Hey, Bells.' I gave her a tight smile. She had called me the minute I had walked through the door to Elena's house and asked me to meet her at the grill so we could hang out... for old friend's sake.

It was Elena who had told me I should go. Myself? I would have preferred to just spend the evening with my Imprint.

'Hi, Jake.' she grinned. 'Long time no see.'

I chuckled. 'Not that long.'

Her smile faltered slightly, but didn't drop. 'Too long for me.'

We had met up outside the grill. We started walking in. I didn't see anyone there who I recognised.

'So.' Bella looked at me as we sat. 'How's your day been?'

'Good.' I smiled slowly. 'Scratch that, _great_. Me and Elena went jogging.'

She frowned. '_Jogging_? Where?'

I grinned. 'Just around town.'

She laughed. 'I never liked jogging. Or running.. or anything physical, really.' her smile turned slightly sad. 'You know that, of course.'

I said nothing, just looked at her. Her brown hair was wavy and went past her shoulders. Her skin was pale- too pale for my liking. Her eyes were brown and almond-shaped. I used to think Bella was the most beautiful girl in the world; I definitely didn't any more. Elena was the most beautiful girl in the world now.

Bella smiled slightly. 'Why are you staring at me?'

'Am I?' I blinked and looked away.

She chuckled. 'You are. Or at least, you were.' she put a hand on my shoulder. 'Is something wrong, Jake?'

I shook my head. 'Nope. Everything's right.'

Matt came over and asked for our order. He was looking at us with suspicion in his eyes. I ignored it and just asked for a Coke. Bella asked for the same. Matt left, and Bella looked at me again.

'How's Elena?' she asked. There was something in her voice- something that I didn't like. But, again, I ignored it.

'She's doing really well.' I grinned. 'Amazing as ever.'

Bella nodded and said nothing. Our drinks came and she sipped hers delicately, keeping her eyes on me the whole time.

'You're being quiet.' she noted.

'Thanks for noticing.' I smiled. Then I remembered something and faltered. 'I never got you anything for graduation.'

She shrugged. 'It's fine. I didn't want you to.'

'But _I _wanted to get you something.'

She laughed. 'Really, Jake, you don't need to worry about stuff like that.'

She blinked a few times and smiled at me. Was she... was she batting her eyelashes?

'Do you have something in your eye?' I asked bluntly.

She blinked again. 'Oh, uh, no.' she muttered. She leaned over the table and looked at me.

'You look tired.' she observed.

I couldn't help but smile. 'Me and Elena haven't been getting too much sleep, you know?'

She frowned. 'Why?'

I stared at her. 'You know... we've been busy...'

Her eyes widened as she understood. She opened her mouth and closed it again.

'Oh.' she finally said. 'Well, uh.. great. I'm happy for you two.'

I scratched the back of my neck. Well, this conversation couldn't get any more awkward.

'I miss you, Jake.' Bella finally blurted. 'I miss my best friend. The amazing guy who I could go to whenever I needed to get away from things... I miss our friendship. I miss _you_.'

I stared at her. Anger started to build up. 'Bella, I'm not the one who decided to give up on our friendship. You are. You decided to let me go the minute you went back to Italy to save the guy who nearly made you kill yourself.'

'I wasn't going to kill myself!' she defended, narrowing her eyes. 'Jacob, please, you have to understand-'

'Is this why you asked me to come here? Was this your pathetic attempt to patch things up and start over?' I hissed.

Her eyes widened at the venom in my tone. 'No, Jacob, I just-'

I cut her off. 'Save it. If you're so desperate to get your best friend back, try and contact him when you're _not _going to go running back to a pack of blood-sucking leeches as soon as they need you.'

I was overreacting, I know. But I couldn't help it. Bella hadn't been acting right around Elena these past few days, and I didn't like that. I was angry. I started to shake lightly.

'Please calm down.' she whispered, putting a hand on my arm, the same as Elena always did. The difference was, Elena always managed to calm me down. Bella's hand on my arm only made me infuriated. It was like the wolf inside of me was longing for Elena, and only Elena...

'I'm leaving.' I said lowly, getting to my feet. 'Don't try and follow me.'

She nodded and hung her head.

At least she had the decency not to argue.

**Bella's POV. **

Well, that went well.

I watched helplessly as Jacob left the Mystic Grill, knowing it was my fault that he was so angry in the first place.

I sighed and took a sip of my Coke, wishing my thoughts would take a turn from being miserable. That conversation was just depressing.

I knew it was wrong to try and flirt with Jacob, try and make him remember how he had apparently loved me. But I couldn't help it.

I hadn't been lying to Jacob. I _did _want my best friend back. When had things even gone wrong?

I knew the answer to that. It was when I chose Edward over him.

My thoughts, all of a sudden, were interrupted by a middle-aged woman with curious blue eyes and blonde hair that was cut short.

'Hello,' she said. 'I'm Liz Forbes, the town's sheriff. I couldn't help but overhear your conversation just then, and, well, you were talking about blood-sucking leeches...' she trailed off, her eyes not leaving mine. Uh oh.

'Oh, uh, that... that's just, you know, a nickname for.. my friends...' I resisted the urge to close my eyes and sink to the floor. Great. I may or may not have just blown the Cullen's secret, all because of a stupid, selfish argument with Jacob.

'It's okay.' Liz said. 'I know all about vampires. Would you mind if we had a little chat? There are some questions I need to ask you.'

**A/N: Let me guess your thoughts right now... I'm evil and you hate me. Am I right? Am I right?  
>Of course I am. But don't worry! The next chapter will come a lot sooner than this one did. ;)<br>Hope you liked the chapter, and my sincere apologies for the delay in updating! You know... damn fanfiction and all.  
>Thank you for the reviews! :D<br>~AlisaPhenom. XoXo**


	12. Sheriff Forbes

**Chapter 12. **

**Bella's POV. **

'I have no idea what you're talking about.' I said weakly, biting my lip. Forbes, Forbes... that name, where have I heard that before?

Then it clicked. _Caroline Forbes_. Was this... was this Caroline's mother? They looked alike...

'Of course you do.' she said, sitting opposite me. She smiled slightly. 'Who was your friend?'

'His name is Jacob.' I said carelessly, then I realized that I'd just told her something. Damn. Where was my sense of self-control?

Oh, that's right- I don't have any.

'Jacob.' Liz repeated. 'Why don't you tell me who these vampires are?'

'Vampires don't exist.'

'We both know that they do. Listen, honey-'

'Bella.' I interrupted. 'My name is Bella.'

'Bella, right.' she smiled tightly. 'I'm the town sheriff. I hunt vampires, I kill them. I can help you.'

'Trust me, you can't.' I said honestly, making a move as if to get up. How ironic. She hunted and killed vampires, and yet her daughter was a vampire.

'Stay.' she ordered. 'Are you in _support _of these vampires?'

'I don't know any vampires! They don't exist!' I said, perhaps a little too loudly.

'Stop shouting and talk to me.' Liz said calmly. I knew I should have walked out of there and away from the sheriff, went running back to Edward and told him everything that had happened.

But something made me stay. Maybe it was the argument with Jacob that had frazzled my nerves, or just the thought of defying a _sheriff_. But something made me sit back down and stare at Sheriff Liz Forbes.

I sighed. 'They're not evil, despite what you may think.'

She snorted. 'Bella, all vampires are evil.'

'Mine aren't.'

'Are you being compelled?' she asked bluntly.

'Of course not!' I said, glaring. I now knew that I had to stay, and convince this woman that the vampires she hated so much weren't all that bad. Was it a smart move? Probably not. But it was what I was going to do. 'Listen, these vampires are different.'

'None of them are different.' she retorted. 'They're all the same. They're all _monsters_. Bella, I want to help you. Let me help you.'

'I don't want or need you to help me.' I sighed. 'How can I explain it to you? Not all vampires kill humans!'

She faltered. 'What?'

'Some- like mine- drink animal blood. Some drink from blood bags. Some just _stop_ before they kill a person.'

'Impossible.' she frowned.

'It's not.' I insisted. 'You think that all vampires are human-killing monsters, yes?'

'Because they are.'

'You're wrong. They're not.'

'I'm not wrong!' she snapped. 'Are you wearing vervain?'

I faltered. 'Well... no.' I admitted.

'Then how do either of us know that you're not being compelled?' she pressed.

I paused for a long time. 'I'm not.' I said honestly.

'You don't know that.' she smiled. 'Please, just tell me their names- I can help you. Are there any other humans involved? Anyone else in danger?'

'No one else is in danger.' I hesitated, feeling a strong urge to tell the truth. 'But... well, there are other... humans involved...'

Liz cursed under her breath. 'Who?'

'I-'

'Give me their names.'

'Elena Gilbert.' I said immediately, then instantly regretted it. I slapped a hand over my mouth.

Liz stared at me. 'Are you sure?' she asked hastily.

'No.' I said quickly. 'Not sure at all. I should go now.'

My plan? Yeah, not working. I needed to leave.

She narrowed her eyes at me, then nodded. 'Okay then.' she said. 'Have a nice day.'

I hurried to my feet and practically ran out of the grill, left feeling incredibly confused after the conversation.

What the _hell _just happened?

**Elena's POV. **

'Hey, hey, Jake, calm down.' I soothed, stroking my hand over his arm. I spared a wild glance at Alice and Rosalie, who were staring at us. Rosalie raised a blonde brow.

'What happened?' I asked.

'Bella.' was all my Jacob said. I felt my heart sink. Oh, god. What the hell happened now?

'What did Bella do?' I pressed softly. My hand continued to stroke his arm, and eventually the shaking stopped, and Jake looked at me with his beautiful dark eyes.

He explained what had happened in the grill. By the end, I was worried, confused, and most of all, _angry_. How dare Bella try and flirt with Jake? How dare she make him angry? _How dare she_?

Jake chuckled. 'I can feel your anger, Elena. Calm down.'

I rolled my eyes and rested my head on his shoulder. I glanced at Rosalie and Alice again and saw that Alice had an extremely annoyed expression on her face. Rosalie only looked faintly annoyed, but her nostrils were flaring; a sign, I had learned, that she was angry. I closed my eyes and listened to Jake's now rhythmic breathing. It calmed me down considerably.

'Is she still there?' I asked.

He shrugged lightly. 'I don't know or care.'

I smiled slightly. 'Are you okay?'

'I am now.' he chuckled. 'I just noticed- whenever I'm with you, I get incredibly cheesy. Have you noticed that?'

'Can't say I have.'

I looked up at him and he nodded slowly. 'I do. It's kind of weird.'

I laughed and planted a gentle kiss on his lips. 'No matter. I love you all the same.'

**Alice's POV. **

'Well, we'd better be going.' I grinned at Elena and Jake. Elena smiled back. Even Jake managed a slight smile at me and Rosalie. 'Come on, Rose.' I added, pulling her along with me as I left.

'Bye!' Elena called after us.

'See you around!' I said as way of goodbye. Me and Rosalie left, and as soon as we did, I turned to my blonde sister. 'We need to have a party.' I said.

She frowned and looked at me weirdly. 'That was sudden.' she said, then sighed. 'Though I have come to expect that now.'

'We need to have a party _tomorrow_.'

'How are you going to arrange that?'

I shrugged, a sly grin forming on my face as we walked. 'I have my ways. And I have the perfect excuse- it'll be a _Welcome Back Elena!_ party!'

Rosalie nodded. 'Sounds good to me. Who will we invite?'

I laughed. 'Everyone!' I smiled at her. 'So it's settled? Tomorrow we'll have a Welcome Home party for Elena?'

'Sure.' Rosalie chuckled. 'I'm guessing it'll be a surprise party. At her own house.'

'Of course.' I grinned, clapping my hands together and bouncing up and down. 'It'll be great!'

'I'm sure it will. We'd better get inviting people now, then.'

'We'll invite the whole family, of course. And Caroline, and Bonnie- oh, those two are so sweet! And Matt, and that werewolf, Tyler Lockwood... and Jacob, of course, we _have _to invite him-'

'Alice.' Rosalie interrupted, her brow furrowed. 'Speak slowly and with clarity. Please.'

I grinned sheepishly. 'Sorry.'

**A/N: I know. I know, I know, I know, I know. It's ridiculously short and you had to wait too long for this chapter!  
>But here it is. I will update on time next week... at exactly this time.<br>Hope you liked the chapter! :) It was fun to write. But it's too short, am I right?  
>Thank you for the (two? What the hell?) reviews! :) They mean a lot.<br>~AlisaPhenom. XoXo**


	13. Silly Bella

**Chapter 13. **

**Bella's POV. **

I hurried back to the hotel, cursing myself all the way there. Why the hell was I so stupid?

I jogged to my room and swung the door open, only to be greeted by Alice, an angry look in her beautiful eyes- which were, I noticed, coal black. She was hungry.

'What the hell was _that_?' she asked furiously.

I blushed. 'I take it you, uh, saw the scene at the grill...'

'You think it's perfectly fine to just give information out like that?' she demanded, placing her tiny hands on her tiny hips and glaring at me. I flinched. I had never seen any vampire so angry with me before, especially not Alice- it was terrifying. I glanced behind her and noticed that Rosalie and Esme were there, too. Alice must have told them. Rosalie looked equally furious and probably hated me even more now, and Esme just looked... disappointed. And I hated that. More than the anger of my two sisters. I hated that the motherly figure in my life looked so disappointed in me at that moment.

'I'm sorry.' I mumbled, looking down.

'You told the vampire-hunting sheriff that there were more vampires in Mystic Falls and that not only you, but _Elena, _was hanging around with them?' Rosalie seethed. 'Tell me again, just _how _stupid are you?'

'I-' I tried to explain, but I was quickly cut off by Esme.

'Bella, honey, that was a foolish and irresponsible thing you did.' she scolded.

I suppressed a sigh and continued to stare at the floor. 'Where's Edward?' I asked quietly, aware that I was still stood outside the doorway. To my own hotel room.

Being yelled at by three angry vampires.

Oh, hell. Why do I get myself into these situtions?

Alice sniffed and opened the door wider to let me in before striding back to sit on the edge of the bed with Esme. Rosalie continued to lean against the wall.

'He's gone hunting with Emmett, Carlisle and Jasper.' Esme said with a tight voice. She turned her eyes away from mine when I looked at her.

'Why aren't you with them?' I asked.

Rosalie snorted. 'Well, _some_ of us had to stay and keep you in line. Besides, me and Alice wanted to stay and hang out with Elena.'

And there it was. That little bit of proof that everyone liked Elena more than _me_. What the hell was it about her that made everyone so fond of her? Why was she so special?

Alice shot me a look that indicated she knew what I was thinking- honestly, I sometimes thought _she _was the mind-reader.

As the minutes ticked by, I learned that none of the others in the room seemed up to talking very much. I didn't really blame them- after all, I was stupid enough to spill to Sheriff Forbes. If she saw me hanging round with seven extremely beautiful people, she would obviously get suspicious of them, especially now that I told her my friends were vampires.

It was going to be a _long _two weeks.

**Elena's POV. **

We were lay on the couch, my limbs tangled with Jacob's. I felt so _relaxed. _His big hands absently stroked my back and I snuggled into his bare chest even further. I almost purred with happiness.

'If Jenna comes home and finds us like this-' I started, only to be silenced by Jacob's lips on mine.

He pulled away and smiled. 'Don't worry. We have a blanket.'

I rolled my eyes. 'Oh. Helpful.'

He chuckled, and then we fell into the comfortable silence again. I glanced around the room, looking at all the old pictures- me, Caroline and Bonnie in our cheerleader outfits, me and Jeremy with our parents, my parents holding hands on a beach, me laughing and pointing at Jeremy lying in a mud puddle... all those beautiful memories, captured on camera and never forgotten. It always made me smile to see those pictures- it was why I'd asked Jenna to frame those specific ones and place them in the living room.

'Thinking?' Jacob's voice broke me out of my thoughts.

I nodded. 'About, you know, old times. Before all this supernatural crap.'

He let out a sigh. 'Must have been nice.'

I paused. 'Not really. I was a party animal, getting drunk every night and arguing with my parents. And whenever that wasn't happening, my parents were dead.' I hated how blunt the words were, but they were the truth. 'If I'm being honest, everything was actually _better_ when vampires and witches and werewolves came into my life.' I grinned and kissed his cheeks. 'Especially the werewolves.'

He laughed. 'Shape-shifters.' he reminded me.

I chuckled. 'Same thing.'

'I love you.'

'I love you, too.'

'You know what amazes me?' he paused. 'How you are _always _able to calm me down.'

I smiled. 'I'd consider that a good thing, actually.'

'It is a good thing.' he said quickly. 'It's just... well, you know. A little weird.'

I frowned. 'Do you want me to stop?'

'Don't you dare.'

I laughed and kissed him. 'Wouldn't dream of it.' I cupped his cheek in my palm, beaming up at him.

His dark-eyed gaze met mine and it was then that I realized the true extent of my love for him, and his for me. We were bonded for life- it wasn't some infatuation, it wasn't some brief teenage love story. It was real, and it was forever.

I was _his_, and he was mine. As much as I hated feeling like I was being owned by anyone, I have to say, I had never felt so happy to be branded before in my life.

**Katherine's POV. **

I was in Forks.

Sigh. Again.

Except, this time, it was for different reasons- reasons that were purely my own. This time, it wasn't to help Damon or Stefan. It was to help _me_.

I walked slowly toward the beautiful woman with wild red curls, who watched me with curious yet cold eyes. Those eyes happened to be ruby red, marking her out as one of _their _kind of vampire. As did the smell.

I felt my lips curve slowly into a smirk. She clearly thought I was a human- a human with a strange smell, granted, but still a human.

'I take it that you're Victoria.' I said when I reached her.

She took in my appearance- my tightly curled hair, my low cut red corset, my tight leather pants. Clearly thinking, once again, that I was no ordinary human.

'I am.' she said cautiously. Her voice wasn't what I expected- it was the kind of voice you'd probably hear from a little girl with blonde pigtails, blowing bright pink bubbles. 'But I'm afraid I have no clue of who _you _are.'

'Of course.' I smirked. 'My apologies. My name is Katherine Pierce- I'm a vampire, like you.'

She snorted, raising an eyebrow when I didn't join in her laughter. 'You are no vampire, girl.' she said with a cruel smirk of her own.

I rolled my eyes and, without warning, thrust my hand out, the fingers closing around her neck. She had no time to wrench me off as I pinned her to the ground, letting my fangs extend and my veins spread. A growl escaped my lips.

She snarled and flipped me so I was the one pinned to the ground, her hands keeping my arms on the ground. She was strong- maybe even as strong as me.

I lashed my leg out and it caught her in the stomach. Though she probably didn't feel the blow, it certainly surprised her, and she jumped off me. I leapt to my feet and held my hands up in a sign of peace.

I almost laughed out loud. Peace. As if either of us would be getting that.

She growled, but didn't attack. She raised an eyebrow and looked at me with cautious red eyes. 'So you _are_ a vampire- but how? You're different from me.'

I shrugged. 'I'm the _other _type.'

This came as news to her. A look of surprise passed over her pale face before it returned to looking impassive and slightly cautious.

'And why have you come to me?' she asked. I glanced behind her and saw that she was flanked by a handsome man with dirty blond hair and the same red eyes. On the ground next to him was a young-looking girl with olive skin that was rapidly turning white. Her screams grew louder and even more distracting by the second, but we ignored her. She was evidently changing into a vampire.

I turned my attention back to Victoria with a smirk. 'I understand you're building an army.'

'I am.' she said.

'And I would like to help you.'

'Help me how, exactly?'

I tilted my head to the side. 'Making my kind of vampire takes only a day or so- the process is much quicker than yours, I must say. If I help you fight the vegetarian coven and its little _pet_, and also make you some more soldiers... what do you say?'

She still looked suspicious. 'And what would be in it for you?'

'What makes you think I would have something to gain from this?' I asked innocently. Oh, I have to say, I did like this vampire. She was clever and sneaky- like a more lowly version of me.

Victoria chuckled darkly. 'Are you telling me you won't?'

I paused. 'The Cullen's, it seems, have another little pet. Her name is Elena Gilbert, and she is my doppelganger. We look exactly alike, and I hate her. I want her dead.'

'That's it?'

'That's it. That's all I will gain.' I smiled wickedly. 'So, what do you say? How about it?'

She smirked. 'Oh, yes. I think you will be _very_ helpful. Welcome to my army.'

**A/N: CLIFFHANGER!  
>Sorry, couldn't resist. ;)<br>What do you think of the new little twist? Did you expect it to happen, or was it a surprise? Let me know what you think in a pretty little review!  
>Hope you enjoyed, and thank you for all the reviews I did get! They're wonderful- like you.<br>Also, what do you think of Katherine wanting both Stefan and Damon? Greedy, right? Feel free to tell me what you think I should do with her!  
>I'll update again next week. My apologies for the delay in the updates, and for the fact that this chapter is so short.<br>~AlisaPhenom. XoXo**


	14. Girl Time

**Chapter 14. **

**Caroline's POV. **

I smiled. 'Party? Of course! I _love_ parties!'

Bonnie chuckled. 'I'll be happy to help with any preparations you need done.'

The pixie-like vampire squealed happily and clapped her hands together. 'Excellent!' she beamed. 'Elena's going to love it! We'll hold it at her house, and it'll be a surprise- oh, you two will probably need to distract her while we get the house ready...'

'We can do that.' I promised, a small grin on my face. 'Elena loves parties, too, so we'll have to invite _everyone _from school...'

'And God said, let there be alcohol.' Bonnie smirked.

'Balloons and a big _Welcome Home_ banner...'

Alice stared at us silently for a few moments. Finally, she spoke. 'We are going to get along _so _well!' she announced happily. 'And I don't need my gift to know that!'

I grinned.

'Okay, so, who exactly are we going to invite?' Alice asked, whipping out a pen and a notepad. Yes, she was a vampire, jotting down notes about a welcome home party.

Sometimes I forget how weird these situations can be.

'Well, the whole school.' I said. 'There's me and Bonnie, of course. And Matt, and Tyler Lockwood-'

'The werewolf?' Alice raised a delicate eyebrow. 'Are you sure?'

I waved a hand dismissively. 'He's fine, as long as it's not a full moon. He's a great guy, actually.'

'You would know.' I heard Bonnie mutter under her breath, and I shot her a warning look. Alice looked interested, but dropped it. Wise of her.

**Elena's POV. **

'Did I tell you how nice it is to see you again?' Jenna asked with a warm smile.

I chuckled. 'Yes... several times now.'

Jake had left because of an important call from Sam regarding the pack. It was apparently something important- 'Pack business', as he'd described it.

'Are you going to be going back to Forks when your visit is over?' a tinge of sadness was in my Aunt's voice, and it made me feel guilty that I was going to leave her again.

'I plan to.' I admitted. But then again, it _did_ feel so nice to be back home again... but no, I couldn't leave Jake- and I certainly couldn't make him leave his pack behind to stay with me. No way could I do that.

'You'll have to call and visit a lot more often, then.' she said firmly. 'You can even write us, if you feel the overwhelming urge to ignore phone calls like you've been doing so often.'

I grinned sheepishly. 'Sorry.' then I chuckled. 'Besides, I'm still here for another two weeks. Isn't this a conversation we should be having just before I leave?'

Jenna sighed. 'I suppose. I just- we all missed you, Elena.'

'I missed you too, Jenna.' I said softly. 'You know that, don't you? When I left-'

'I know, I know.' she waved her hand with a weak smile. 'You didn't want to, but you felt like you had to, and all that.'

I grinned. 'Glad you understand.'

'So, tell me about the family you're staying with.' she took a sip of her coffee. 'The Cullen family, is it? They seem... nice.'

'They're wonderful.' I agreed, smiling.

'Are they treating you all right? Feeding you enough? Do you have a proper bed to sleep in?' Jenna questioned.

I nodded. 'Yes, Jenna. I'm not being locked up in a dungeon and fed stale bread and water, if that's what you're worried about.'

She chuckled. 'Right. Sorry. I just... yeah. I worry sometimes.'

'Believe me, I know.' I muttered.

She nudged me in the side, then gave me a dreamy smile. 'And the older guy- your new father figure, right?'

I nodded again. 'Yep. Dr Carlisle Cullen.'

She looked faintly surprised. 'Oh, he's a doctor? Great. He can patch you up if you accidentally walk into a bus or something.'

'Never going to happen again, I swear.'

'He's very handsome.'

I blanched. 'What?'

'You can't deny that he is.' Jenna said defensively. 'They all are, really, but-'

'He has a wife.' I interruped in a warning tone. 'And you have a boyfriend- remember Alaric? The other _dreamy_ old man in your life?'

'He's not an old man!' Jenna protested, nudging me again. 'And I was just making an observation, Elena. An observation you _must _have made several times or more...'

'I haven't.' I stated flatly. 'I love Jacob.'

Jenna made a face. 'Love him?'

'I do, I swear.' I grinned.

'I don't doubt that you do.' she said dubiously, making me roll my eyes. 'It's just that, well.. you said you loved Stefan, too. Before you two broke up.'

'There's a difference- then, I didn't love Stefan. But I really, really do love Jacob, Jenna.' I shook my head. 'You wouldn't understand.'

'Cheeky.' she swatted my arm.

I clutched my arm in my hands, pretending to be wounded. 'Ouch, Jenna! Will you stop hitting me?'

We both laughed.

'I missed this.' Jenna said when her laughter died out. She sounded wistful, and I felt guilty once again.

'So did I.' I admitted.

'Why did you actually leave, Elena?' she asked suddenly, making me nearly fall off my chair in surprise. 'You never gave me a straight answer.'

'I-I.. well, you know... Stefan.' I stammered, as if it was an explanation in itself.

She raised an eyebrow. 'So you left Mystic Falls because a boyfriend broke up with you? Come on, Elena, that's not like you, and we both know it.'

'You're right.' I nodded. 'But, Jenna... I just needed a change. After me and Stefan broke up, I realized that there was nothing left for me here...'

'Did me and Jeremy not count as anything?' Jenna asked, a note of sadness in her tone.

'Of course you did!' I said quickly. Damn. How did I explain this without offending her, while simultaneously hiding the frightening truth from her? 'It's just... hard to explain. I needed a change, and I figured it was time.'

Jenna nodded. 'I don't blame you for it. Sorry I brought it up.'

'Don't worry about it.' I sighed, then gave her a smile. 'How about some girl time? We can curl up on the couch with hot chocolate and watch as many bad movies as we want, just like we used to with mom.'

She grinned at me. 'Sounds like a plan. Can I pick the movies?'

I hesitated. 'That depends. Are you going to choose anything stupid?'

'Define stupid.'

I groaned. 'We're not watching _The Notebook _or _Dear John_ again. No way.'

She chuckled. 'Fine. You choose the movie.' then she paused and looked at me. 'Will Jacob be joining us?'

I smirked. 'Are you suggesting that my boyfriend should join in on _girl_ time?'

She rolled her eyes. 'It's just that you two seem so close. You spend so much time together, you know.'

I opened my mouth to reply when Jake came back into the kitchen. He looked at us both. 'Uh, sorry... am I interrupting something?'

'Yep.' I grinned. 'We're having girl time, so you can just, I don't know, play with Edward or something.'

I laughed when he pulled a face. 'I think I'll just hang with your brother. Have fun with _girl time_.' he left, waggling his eyebrows as he backed out of the room.

'Wait, Jake!' I called after him. He poked his head back through the door. Ignoring Jenna's sigh, I said, 'what did Sam want?'

He hesitated, sparing a glance at Jenna. 'I'll tell you later. Enjoy your free time.' he smiled and then left, and I heard his heavy footsteps going up the stairs.

'Can we start now?' Jenna asked with a smile.

I chuckled. 'Choose a movie- a movie that is _not The Notebook_. Seriously.'

**Jacob's POV. **

'What is it, Sam?' I hissed into the phone.

'Sorry for interrupting whatever you were doing with your Imprint, but this is important.' his deep voice said. 'How fast can you get back to Forks?'

I froze. 'What? Why?'

'The red-headed vampire was here, and this time she brought a friend. We chased them to the Canadian border, but they were too fast. They got away, but we have a feeling they're going to be back. We need you, Jacob.'

'I can't.' I said quietly. 'I need to stay with Elena.'

'Bring her with you.'

'I can't do that!' I said, raising my voice. I quickly quieted it as I realized that Elena and her Aunt were still downstairs. I didn't want to get either of them worried. 'She wanted to come here- I can't just drag her back. Please, Sam, just let me stay with her.'

There was a pause. 'I guess it _will _be useful to have some wolves over there to protect both Bella and Elena.'

'You see?' I beamed at thin air. 'I'll stay. You can even send down some pack members, if you want.'

'I'll do that. I'll send Seth and Leah down as soon as I can, okay? Make sure every human being in Mystic Falls is protected from the red-headed leech and her little gal pal.'

'Who was the other vampire?'

Sam hesitated. 'We think it was Katherine- the one who looks like Elena.'

I let out a low growl and felt the shaking spread through my body. 'She's working with the red-head?'

'Apparently.'

'That's not a good thing.'

'We didn't think it was in the first place.'

I scowled. 'Send Leah and Seth down, and we'll make sure she doesn't get a chance to come after Elena or Bella.'

'They'll be there tomorrow.'

I sighed and hung up. Maybe I should have asked for a more pleasant hunting partner than Leah, but I guess her and Seth came as a package deal now. And, much as I hated to admit it, the little guy was a good fighter. Even if he _was_ only fifteen years old.

So, Katherine was still at it. When was she going to give up? I'd make sure she never got anywhere _near_ Elena. A low growl escaped my throat at the thought of her hurting my Imprint.

It was _never _going to happen. Not while I'm around.

**A/N: You're thinking; oh, finally, the idiot has updated. And I agree with you. I'm sorry the update took so long!  
>I hope you liked the chapter. The next chapter will be more action-filled, I promise. Be sure to leave me one of your LOVELY reviews, since I love them so much! :)<br>Until the next update,  
>~AlisaPhenom. XoXo<strong>


	15. Bucket of Water

**Chapter 15. **

**Elena's POV. **

The next morning, I woke up to a surprise.

A surprise that involved Caroline, Bonnie and a bucket of water.

'AGH!' I screamed when I felt the cold, wet substance fall over my suddenly awake body. I leapt to my feet, feeling the water dripping from my hair and pyjamas. '_What the hell_?'

Caroline and Bonnie, as it was, were literally rolling round on the floor with laughter, an empty bucket tossed on the ground next to them.

'_Why the hell would you do that_?' I demanded furiously, shaking my hands out.

Bonnie gasped out an unintelligible answer between laughter. I put my hands on my hips and glared at them both until they stopped laughing and got to their feet.

'Why?' I said simply. '_Why_?'

'That has got to be the funniest thing I have seen happen all week.' Bonnie chuckled.

I said nothing. Nothing at all. Wordlessly, I walked over to them both, put by head down, and shook my head as hard as I could. I felt the decreasingly wet strands whip against my face and heard the squeals of both Bonnie and Caroline. I'm quite sure Caroline used her vampire speed to whiz away from me.

I slowly lifted my head, my glare still on my face. 'That is less than you deserve.'

'Thank you for your mercy.' Bonnie giggled.

I scowled at them both. 'I'm going to get dressed- there'd better be a good reason you got me up at...' I glanced at the clock with narrowed eyes. 'Nine thirty. On my lie-in day.'

'Wear something pretty!' Caroline called after me as I walked out of the room. Wear something pretty? Why?

I figured there was no point just purposely _not_ wearing something pretty, although there was nothing more I'd like to do than throw on a pair of sweats and a vest. I picked out a black silk camisole and light blue skinny jeans and black ankle boots.

I glanced at my reflection in the mirror and deduced that I looked presentable, and returned to Caroline and Bonnie in the other room. They both wore their shit-eating grins. My eyes immediately narrowed.

'What have you done?' I demanded, instantly suspicious.

Bonnie widened her green eyes innocently and Caroline tilted her blonde head to the side.

'Why, whatever are you talking about, best friend?'

'Yes, there's no way we could have done anything in your absence!' Bonnie giggled.

I rolled my eyes. 'Why did you get me up?'

'Because we're going out.' Caroline answered with a grin.

'Where?'

Bonnie shrugged, smiling. 'Wherever. It's a small town, I'm sure we can find some form of entertainment.'

'Now, dry your hair, honey.' Caroline winked. 'We have a busy day planned.'

**Alice's POV. **

'Operation get-Elena-out-of-the-house is a go.' Caroline said in a hushed tone through the phone.

I nodded, grinning. 'Perfect. Keep her away until about 5pm.'

There was a hesitation before Caroline replied. 'We can do that. Remember the balloons!'

I hung up, beaming. This party was going to be perfect.

I ran as fast as I could over to Elena's house, smirking when I heard Elena complaining to Bonnie and Caroline as they walked out. I hid behind a small, flowering bush while they exited the house and I didn't move from my position until I was sure they were gone.

'Jenna.' I called as I got up and knocked on the front door. I waited patiently for another few seconds as I heard Jenna getting up inside the house. 'Jenna.' I said loudly when I knew she was walking toward the front door.

'I'm coming, I'm coming.' she grumbled, opening the front door. It swung open and she stood there, staring at me. 'Can I help you?'

I flashed her a huge smile. 'Hi. My name's Alice Cullen- a friend and housemate of Elena's. Me and a few of her friends were planning to throw a little Welcome Home party for Elena today... do you think that would be possible? It'll be really fun.'

She looked at me for a few seconds. 'You're throwing a party?'

'Yes.'

'At my house?'

'Yes.'

'Why?'

'For Elena.' I grinned. 'It's a surprise, so...'

She paused and then sighed. 'Please tell me things haven't already been arranged.'

'I'm afraid they have.' I smiled slyly.

She groaned. 'Miss Cullen-'

'Call me Alice.'

'Alice, I'm not exactly in a partying mood today.'

I hesitated. 'We won't be loud or anything.' I said. Okay, so maybe that was a little white lie. I wasn't sure _how _loud the party would be, but I guess a little white lie wouldn't hurt right now.

She looked dubious, but nodded. 'All right, fine. Come on in.'

We walked through the hallway, a bounce in my every step. This party was going to be _so _much fun...

'Why do you have to be here so early?' Jenna asked, glancing sideways at me.

'Because we have lots to do! We're going to put up decorations and bake a cake-'

'A cake?'

I nodded seriously. 'It's a party. We _have_ to have cake.'

Not that I'd be able to actually eat it or anything.

**Elena's POV. **

'I've been kidnapped.' I groaned. 'By my two best friends.'

'You'll thank us later, trust me.' Bonnie smiled at me.

I chuckled. 'Why are we even going out?'

'Because we want some time with you before you end up re-smothered with your werewolf.'

'Before breakfast?'

'We have to be sure.'

I rolled my eyes at Caroline's serious tone. 'Whatever. Where are we going?'

'I was thinking...'

'Nothing stupid.' I said in a warning tone to my bubble blonde best friend.

She rolled her eyes. 'Of course, because I was planning to take you to a strip club to give you a lap dance.'

I said nothing. Neither did Bonnie. We both just looked at Caroline.

'Please,' I started slowly. 'Tell me you weren't planning that.'

'Of course I wasn't!' she said defensively, looking at me as if I were crazy. 'Why can't we just have some innocent fun?'

We walked down the street, laughing and joking, and I felt my mood lift. We had no idea where we were going, but at least we were having fun.

Even if this fun was to be had at nine thirty.

I opened my mouth to make a comment to my friends, but I was interrupted by a sight that I wasn't too sure I wanted to see.

Damon.

He was sauntering along the street, a smirk on his face. He could evidently hear us, even though he didn't look at us.

'Damon.' I breathed. I saw his perfect blue eyes flicker my way for a second and the smirk, if possible, grew bigger. But he just kept on walking.

'Elena.' Bonnie said, tugging my arm and shooting a nasty look Damon's way. 'Elena, come on.'

I shook my head, as if doing that could shake away Damon's existence. 'Right.' I said, wearing an apologetic smile. 'Sorry.'

'Don't mention it.' Caroline said dubiously, pursing her lips.

**Damon's POV. **

So it really was true. Elena was back in town.

I hadn't really doubted it, being honest, but a part of me did feel that it was too good to be true. But there she was, laughing with her two best friends... in Mystic Falls.

She still looked beautiful.

My mind automatically went to the kiss we'd shared on her prom night. The kiss that neither of us had planned, and that one of us hadn't wanted.

I shook those thoughts away quickly. _She's not yours to think about, Damon, _I thought to myself.

At least, not yet.

Of course, I knew about the little party her friends were planning for today. News travels fast in Mystic Falls, especially for an all-powerful vampire like myself.

Today, I decided, I would pay Elena a little visit at her party.

**Bella's POV. **

I made a face. 'Party?'

Edward chuckled. 'Yes, party. And since it's being thrown by Alice...'

I groaned. 'It's going to be over the top and an all-round _fiesto_. Great.'

'It won't be that bad.' he tried to reason.

I snorted. 'At least it's not mine.'

Of course it wasn't mine. It was Elena's party, because everyone was thrilled to have Elena back in town.

Not that I cared. In fact, I was glad Elena was getting a party. It meant that I probably wouldn't be getting one any time soon.

But, then again, I still had to go to this one...

'Do we have to get her a present?' I asked.

Edward shook his head. 'Nope.' he smiled his crooked smile. 'Unless you want to, of course.'

I shrugged. 'I think showing up will be enough of a bother.'

He chuckled and pulled me into his lap. 'You know, you could at least try and sound more excited. Your future sister-in-law will be expectimg you today.'

_'_Alice or Elena?'

'Both.'

'But Elena's not expecting me. She doesn't even know there's going to _be_ a party.'

'You're still going.' Rosalie said from the other room. She was still holding a short red dress against her body. 'After that little stunt you pulled with the sheriff the other day, you're going to owe all of us at least this.'

'Rosalie.' Edward growled in a warning tone.

Rosalie crossed her arms, tossing her long golden hair over her shoulder. 'Come on, Edward, you can't pretend she didn't do anything wrong this time. She gave away information- now we're probably going to be monitored by the police or whatever.'

'Enough, Rosalie!' Edward raised his voice, glaring at his sister.

I felt the heat of a blush spreading across my face. I buried my face in Edward's shoulder, feeling the guilt and shame fill me.

'Don't go hiding your face.' Rosalie snapped at me. 'At least face up to what you've done.'

'It's not like I told her it was you.' I responded, surfacing from the shoulder of Edward's sweater. 'All I said was that you didn't kill humans.'

'You still admitted that you hang round with vampires- and, let's be honest, we are the only people you hang out with! You have no other friends!'

I winced at her sharp words.

'_Rosalie_!' Edward snarled. 'Get out! _Now!_'

'I was already leaving.' she sneered coldly.

She left, and me and Edward were alone again. 'I'm so sorry about her.' Edward said quickly, planting a kiss on my lips.

I sighed. 'She's right, Edward. I was stupid and careless and, let's be honest, that was probably her being kind about it.'

'Trust me,' he frowned. 'She wasn't.'

**Katherine's POV. **

'Where have you been this time, Katherine?' my sweet Stefan asked me, a tired look on his face. I smiled innocently up at him, running a finger down his cheek.

'Out and about.' I replied in a seductive tone.

He sighed and looked at me. 'I want a real answer.'

'What a shame you're not going to get one.'

'Katherine.' his bottomless green eyes met mine, and suddenly I remembered all the feelings I had for him. The feelings I'd had since 1864. It almost made me feel guilty about my actions for the past few days.

Almost.

'Stefan.' I said in a low, mocking tone.

He made a frustrated noise and turned on his heel, walking away, anger quickening his step. I just watched him go, a frown on my face. I huffed and turned around, flopping onto the sofa.

I didn't _regret_ my little negotiation with the red-head. Victoria. But I was sure as hell that there could have been better things to do.

The previous night, I had already made five new vampires for her army. It was up to her to take care of them and feed them the blood that they would need to complete the transition. But I had no doubt that she would do that.

Soon enough, I thought with a smirk, things would finally be going the way I wanted them to. My little doppelgänger would be out of the way, the Cold One's pet would be dead, and Stefan and Damon would be all mine.

Yes, everything would be perfect.

Because we all know that I always get my way.

**A/N: Evil Katherine...  
>It's an uneventful chapter, and it's an all round not very good chapter. But it's still a chapter, and more is to come next chapter, so... oui. Hope you liked it!<br>Thank you for the reviews, and I'd love to get some more, if that could happen. :) I was watching Monty Python: The Life Of Brian while writing this, so I was in a light and humorous mood. (LOVE that film.)  
>Hope you enjoyed, I'll update again next week!<br>~AlisaPhenom. XoXo**


	16. Party

**Chapter 16. **

**Elena's POV. **

Six hours of shopping- yes, we went shopping _again_- later, we were lounging on Caroline's bed with about twenty shopping bags scattered around on the floor.

Only about eight of them were mine and Bonnie's.

'That,' I'd said breathlessly when we collapsed onto the bed. 'Was _horrible_.'

'One hundred percent agreed.' Bonnie muttered.

I let my head hang off the bed. 'What was the point, Care? Seriously?'

'Well, I'm sorry for wanting a girl's day out.' Caroline sniffed haughtily, tossing her hair over her shoulder.

From then on, we'd been filled with more chatter. But something was telling me that Caroline and Bonnie weren't telling me something...

There came a light knock at the door.

'Come in.' Caroline called, swivelling her head to face the door.

The door opened, and Caroline's mom, Sheriff Lockwood, popped her head round. She eyed me and Bonnie wearily. 'Could you keep it down for a minute? I'm about to make an important call.'

Caroline frowned. 'Uh, sure. Okay...'

'Thanks.' the sheriff's eyes fell on me for a second, and I swear, her expression was suspicious. But then she left, and I was left wondering whether it was just my imagination.

'Okay, that was slightly weird. Were we really being that loud?' Bonnie asked.

Caroline frowned. 'Shush. I'm listening to the call.'

I stared. 'Caroline, you can't just eavesdrop on private calls!'

'I'm a vampire.' she waved her hand dismissively. 'Of course I can.'

She was silent for a few minutes. So were we. I heard a few snippets of the conversation- 'Yes, at the party...'

What party?

'… Gilbert...'

My last name... why was she talking about my family?

'… vampires in the town...'

I made a sharp intake of breath. I heard Bonnie do the same- she must have been listening, too. Caroline had an expression of intense concentration on her face- she was listening hard.

'Caroline, what are they saying?' I asked urgently, desperately curious.

'I-I...' she shook her head, frowning. She looked at me, her blue eyes meeting my brown ones. 'You, Elena. They're talking about you- and how you're associated with vampires.'

Bonnie gasped. I have to admit, I did the same. The news was surprising, to say the least.

The sheriff was onto us.

**Alice's POV. **

The rest of my family- bar Elena- arrived a half hour before the party was set to begin. They all looked excited... apart from Bella, who looked slightly depressed. She was wearing a loose, flowy dress in electric blue that fell around her knees. It was pretty. Her arm was wrapped tightly around Edward's. She looked uncomfortable and unhappy. She kept shooting nervous glances towards Rosalie- huh. The two must have had another sparring. Not a surprise, really. I could tell that Rose was furious about the 'incident' with Sheriff Forbes at the Grill.

'It's all looking wonderful, Alice, dear.' Esme complimented, offering me a sweet smile. She wore a pretty purple blouse with a black pencil skirt, and the most lovely pair of plumb-coloured shoes.

I beamed back at her. 'Thanks! It took us _forever _to set up.'

Ironic, of course, since the day of decorating was nowhere near what a vampire would consider to be forever. But it really did take a long time for me and Jenna to set up the living room.

Most of the furniture- bar a few sofas, chairs and tables- had been pushed out of the room, despite Jenna's grouchy protests, to make room for the mounds of decorations I'd had brought in.

There was a huge stereo and speaker system in the corner with a pile of Elena's favourite CD's lying next to it. Next to it was a long table with a row of food selections that, had I been human, I would have been nibbling at. A bowl of red fruit punch was at the centre of the table. I'd managed to get a disco ball to hang from the centre of the ceiling, and there were bright lights in different illuminating the room. It made our extremely pale skin look strange, but it wasn't necessarily a bad thing. There was plenty of room for dancing in the middle of the living room.

I had to admit, the place looked great. The words '_Welcome home, Elena_' were hanging in the doorway, with balloons weighed down on either side of it.

'She'll love it.' Rosalie said excitedly, staring around at the set-up with a grin.

'Do you think?' I asked, beaming at my beautiful blonde sister. She nodded. She was wearing a gorgeous red dress that swung two or three inches above her knees. I had a feeling Emmett would need to be picking teenage boys off of his mate through the entire evening.

Emmett stepped forward and threw an arm around Rosalie's shoulder. 'And I'm liking the cake, sis.' he grinned, gesturing towards the big cake on the food table. It was chocolate- Elena's favourite- and pretty damn big.

Jenna, who had previously been occupied staring at the beautiful strangers in her living room, suddenly stepped forward with a worried look on her face. 'How many people are coming, exactly?'

I smiled, suddenly feeling sheepish. 'Oh, you know- just a few.'

'How many?' she repeated, her worried frown deepening.

'Uh... maybe about sixty?'

I _was_ planning on inviting everyone from Elena's year at Mystic Falls High. But, upon seeing that Elena's whole house wouldn't hold that many, I cut it down. Sixty would do... you'd be surprised at how taking out furniture would add extra space to a room.

Jenna groaned. 'Great. Sixty hormonal teenagers packed into my living room. I need to get changed.'

'Wear something pretty!' I called to her in a sing-song voice as she walked out.

She turned to look at me with a sour expression on her face. 'No.'

Edward chuckled when I scowled. 'She's just grouchy. She, unlike you, isn't a vampire. She's a middle-aged woman-'

'Don't let her hear you say that!' I interrupted quickly in a panicked tone. 'She's even worse than Bella when it comes to the age thing! If you call her middle-aged, she'll give you the death-eyes!'

Jasped frowned at me. 'You're a vampire, and you're scared of Elena's Aunt?'

I nodded solemnly. 'She's absolutely terrifying, Jazz.'

He cracked a grin, holding me close to him. 'Don't worry, I won't let the big bad human hurt you.' he teased.

I scowled again.

'Where's the dog- sorry, I mean, _Jacob_.' Edward corrected upon seeing Bella's warning glare.

'He's upstairs. I have to say, he wasn't too keen on the party.' I admitted. 'He's with Elena's brother. I haven't really bothered to check on them, considering that the last time I did, he ignored me.'

'It's because we're vampires, darlin'.' Jasper smirked.

I tutted. 'I know _that_. But he could at least _try _to be sociable. We are.'

'I agree with everything you say.' Jasper said, holding me close.

I scrunched up my face and stuck my tongue out at him.

Carlisle rolled his eyes playfully. 'I have such mature children.'

**Elena's POV. **

'Can I go home now?' I sighed, after seeing on the clock that it was nearly 5pm. Caroline, too, glanced wearily at the clock, then broke out into a huge smile.

'Yes!' she said enthusiastically. I frowned at her, and she instantly dropped the smile and waved her hand casually. 'I mean, sure. If you want. I'll drive you.'

I rolled my eyes. 'You've kept me by your side all day, Caroline. I'm pretty sure I can go five minutes on my own if I walk home.'

'I insist.' she said quickly, picking up her car keys.

I raised an eyebrow at her and looked at Bonnie, who merely shrugged. I didn't miss the death glare she sent Caroline's way as soon as she thought I wasn't looking.

My two best friends were acting crazy. It was official.

I finally accepted to let Caroline drive me home, and Bonnie came with us, saying that she may as well get dropped off, too.

'Thank you for today, you two, even though most of it was ungodly.' I said on the short drive home.

They both beamed at me.

'Don't mention it, sweetie.' Caroline chirped.

'Yeah. It was fun, right?' Bonnie smirked. 'I mean, without the six hours of shopping.'

'That part did kind of suck.' I agreed, looking pointedly at Caroline.

'For you two, maybe.' she said hotly. 'But _I_ happened to enjoy it quite a lot.'

'Ah, your famous insanity.' I grinned. 'It's what makes you so loveable.'

Caroline gasped in mock-outrage. 'What, you mean you don't love me because of my charm and wit? Why, I'm offended!'

We collapsed into giggles.

When we finally reached my house, I sighed. 'Well, it's been fun...'

I stopped talking when I saw both Caroline and Bonnie getting out of the car, too. 'What are you doing?' I asked, confused.

'Walking you in.' Bonnie answered innocently.

'Is there anything wrong with that?' Caroline added.

'Your obsession with me is... strange.' I chuckled. 'And a little creepy.'

'Don't flatter yourself.' Bonnie winked. I smiled at her.

I allowed them to walk me to my door. I glanced at them for a few minutes when we reached it- they still weren't leaving. I suddenly got a bad feeling, seeing the anticipating smiles on their faces. This whole day... were they up to something?

Oh, god. They _were_.

'What are you up to?' I asked suspiciously, automatically taking a step away from them.

Caroline just giggled. 'Open the door.' she said.

'Why?'

'Just do it.' Bonnie advised, her voice sounding half-way between exasperated and amused. I waited another two seconds before rolling my eyes and pushing the door open. The hallway was dark, but I wasn't stupid enough to miss the brightly coloured lights shining through the doorway.

'Please tell me you didn't...' I started as I walked through the hallway, Caroline and Bonnie trailing behind me.

I stepped into the living room. At first, all I saw was that the room was set up for a party and that there was a _Welcome home, Elena!_ Banner hanging above my head. Then I heard a loud shout of, 'Surprise!', and I felt myself being tackled by a white blur that seemed to be made of granite.

'Ow, Alice.' I muttered, unable to stop a grin forming on my face. Her shout was followed by others, and I realized that it must have been at least half of Mystic Falls High School class. I spotted Tyler, Matt, and a girl called Daisy, to name just a few. They were all laughing, probably at my expression, which must have been surprised. And, of course, there were the Cullen's, all beaming at me. Bella was there, giving me a smile that I hastily returned. Jenna and Jeremy were stood with smirks on their faces, and I shot them both a thumbs up. I glanced next to them and I swear, my heart skipped a beat at the sight of Jacob stood there, wearing a black dress shirt and black pants. He looked great. He gave me a wolfish grin and I found myself returning it.

I pulled out of Alice's hug. I grinned at her. 'Was this you?'

She nodded excitedly. 'Yep.' she announced proudly. 'All of it. Although your aunt helped with the decorating.'

I frowned. 'Jenna was in on this?'

'It was hard to get her to come around, but... I managed.'

'Whatever you did, write it down and give it to me. I need that trick.' I joked.

We both laughed, and I turned to Bonnie and Caroline. 'I take it that you two were in on this, and this is why you so rudely kidnapped me this morning.'

'Yep.' Bonnie said sheepishly.

'Sorry.' Caroline added with a grin that told me she wasn't sorry at all.

'Don't be,' I said sincerely. 'This is amazing.'

I glanced around the room. That was exactly what it was- amazing. Alice and Aunt Jenna had really gone to town on the whole party thing.

I made my way over to Jacob, wasting no time in wrapping my arms around him and pulling him in for a hug. 'Is it weird,' I whispered in his ear, 'that I spent most of today missing you?'

'I hope not, because I think you'll find that I've spent the whole day doing the same.' he murmured back.

'Good.' I smiled and pulled away, planting a short kiss on his waiting lips. I grabbed his hand and pulled him to the dance floor when I heard one of my favourite songs start playing. 'I love this song. Let's party.'

**Damon's POV. **

'Pretty please?' I asked sweetly.

Jenna Sommers, I knew already, was a very stubborn woman. Even more so, apparently, when it came to me. Maybe it had something to do with her hating me.

I liked to think that she just didn't want to fall for my irresistible charms.

'You will not come in here and crash Elena's party. No.' she said firmly, and started to close the door. I lashed my foot out to stop it from closing. She tried to push it harder, probably in the hopes that she'd squash my foot _and_ get me off the porch at the same time. Of course, her strength was no match for mine, and she was unsuccessful in her attempts.

'Why not?' I asked in a mock-whiny voice.

'Because I hate you. Elena hates you. Everyone in this room _hates you_.'

'Hate is a strong word.' I smirked.

'Not in this case.' she said flatly, giving me a glare.

I sighed. This was getting me nowhere. I heard the sounds of laughter and music coming from inside- I had a feeling Elena's neighbours would be making a few complaints later. I wanted to get inside the house, maybe talk to Elena... but how could I do that when Jenna refused to let me anywhere near her?

I didn't want to use compulsion- not on Elena's family. That would be... wrong. And, obviously, I couldn't just use brute force. I needed another tactic.

Shouldn't be too hard to find. I was a vampire, after all.

'Okay. I get the message.' I said finally, stepping away from the door.

Jenna eyed me with weary eyes, then nodded and closed the door. I heard her return to the party and get caught up in conversation with Alaric Saltzman. What? They invited _him_ and not _me_?

I snorted and whizzed round to the back of the house, where I knew Elena's room was. Comforted by the fact that no one could see me, I jumped up to Elena's window and perched on the ledge, frowning when I saw the locked window.

'Well, that's no fun.' I murmured, before using my strength to ease it open. Yes, I broke the lock, but I was pretty desperate. I'd pay for it later.

I stepped into her room, looked around with a smirk, and then crept downstairs to join the party.

Well, that was easy.

**Elena's POV. **

I was slow-dancing with Jacob. The moment was perfect. My head was resting on his shoulder, his arms were around my waist, my arms were around his neck.

'Did I mention how beautiful you look?' he whispered to me.

'Yes.' I chuckled. 'Four times now.'

'It's true.'

'Jacob. If that's true, then I'm really rocking the sweat-smeared make-up look.'

'Your make-up isn't smudged at all.' he said, sounding amused.

I raised an eyebrow. 'Whatever you say.'

All too soon, the song ended. We stayed in our position a couple of seconds longer before I pulled back, flashing a smile at Jake. 'Shall we go and see if the punch has already been spiked?'

He frowned. 'You expect it to be?'

I rolled my eyes, like the answer was the most obvious thing in the world. 'Of course. There's never been a party in Mystic Falls without there being alcohol involved. Which is why Jenna is so reluctant for me to start partying again.'

'That's... weird.'

She giggled. 'Isn't it? Now come on. I'm sure you're thirsty.'

We went over to the punch bowl and I poured us both a cup. Taking a hasty sip of mine, I frowned. Huh. Someone _had_ spiked it, maybe a little too strongly. The punch tasted more of vodka than it did of fruit.

I coughed slightly and finished the cup. 'No more of that.' I decided in a firm voice, pursing my lips.

'Oh, don't be such a party pooper.' I heard a smooth voice tease from behind me. I instant tensed, and I felt Jacob do the same behind me. Turning around slowly, I met the ice blue eyes that could only belong to the one person I'd been trying to avoid ever since I came back here to Mystic Falls.

'Damon.'

**A/N: Finally! I'm so sorry I didn't update last week- things were going on, I had a script to memorise, I genuinely didn't have time to update! Hope you'll forgive me with this chapter... Just so you all know, I update once a week, every Sunday.  
>:) I hope you liked the chapter! I made it nice and long- five pages, if you must know. Yes, I started the party, finally- was it good enough? Let me know in one of those pretty little reviews I love so much! :D<br>Thanks for all the reviews. You guys are all amazing.  
>~AlisaPhenom. XoXo<strong>


	17. Dance with the Devil

**Chapter 17. **

**Elena's POV. **

'Well, hello there.' Damon smirked. 'Care to dance?'

'No, thank you.' I said stiffly. I felt Jacob's arms wrap protectively around my waist. Faint tremors were going through his body.

_Calm down, calm down, please calm down... _I willed in my head.

'Aw, why not?' Damon teased. 'Afraid to make contact with me after the last time we... _spoke_?'

'Get the hell away from her.' Jacob said tensely.

'I don't think I will.' Damon retorted. His eyes met mine, and I felt myself freeze in place. How could I have been stupid enough to not just tell him to leave me the hell alone, last time I talked to him?

'Damon, please.' I whispered.

His eyes softened from being hard blocks of ice to pools of cool, calm water. 'Dance with me.' he said. I glanced at Jacob, who was staring at me with a pleading look in his eyes. 'If you do, I'll leave.' Damon added, his smirk returning.

'Just one dance.' I murmured to Jacob, slipping out of his arms, ignoring his protest. I glared at Damon as he pulled me to the dance-floor, where other couples were dancing. A Muse song was playing. I glanced around to see that the Cullen's were staring at us. They all had faint looks of anger on their faces. Bella looked worryingly over at Jacob, who I noticed was still stood there, staring at us with a furious expression on his face as Damon wrapped his arms around me and we started dancing. I could see, even from over here, the trembles that quaked his body.

Great party, huh?

**Bella's POV. **

'I need to go and try to calm him down.' I muttered, trying to pull myself out of Edward's grasp.

'In case you've forgotten, you're not his favourite person right now- nor are you anyone's.' Rosalie said coldly.

I swallowed hard. 'I still have to try.'

'No, you don't.' Edward said firmly. 'He'll be fine. He won't phase here.'

'You don't know that!' I cried feebly, but their minds were already made up. Edward's arms circled by waist, locked in an unbreakable position. Finally, I sighed and relaxed against him, still eyeing Jacob worriedly.

Elena and Damon danced. They were talking; Damon had a smirk on his face, and Elena looked angry. I briefly wished I had some kind of vampire hearing so I could hear what they were saying.

Unfortunately, though, that apparently wasn't going to happen any time soon, because of Edward's wish for me to remain human.

I glanced around Elena's living room some more, scanning the crowds of teenagers who were laughing, dancing and talking. My eyes then landed on someone whose presence here made my eyes widen and my heart start beating faster than I thought possible.

'Sheriff Forbes.' I whispered. 'She's _here_.'

The sheriff was staring at Elena and Damon, a calculating look in her eyes.

Edward's arms held me tighter then, and the whole Cullen family followed my gaze.

'She doesn't look so tough.' Rosalie sniffed haughtily. 'We can take her on. One of Elena's vampires can just compel her or something.'

'I guess.' I said doubtfully.

'But Bella said she already seemed to know about vampires.' Alice chimed. 'What if she knows about all the precautions against them? Vervain and such?'

'That's a possibility.' Carlisle said, as he and Esme stood in front of us all in a protective stance. As if she had heard us talking, Sheriff Forbes suddenly looked at us. Her eyes narrowed as they looked at me, and then she glanced at the vampires around me. Surely she couldn't know...

She looked at us for a few more seconds before nodding to herself and moving away, heading off to talk to Jenna. Elena's aunt greeted the town sheriff with a smile, and I let my breath out. I was almost relieved. But she had seen us- she had been clearly suspicious of Elena, and she had looked right at my vampires.

'She's definitely a threat.' Edward said quietly. 'I can read her mind. She's wondering if we're the vampires Bella was so keen to defend.' he paused, and snorted. 'She thinks we compelled her. Clearly, she doesn't know about Cold Ones.'

'We can take care of her easily, though, right?' Emmett said. He had a cup of punch in his hand; apparently, to make him look more human. Alice had a plate of crackers and cheese and grapes in her hand. She hadn't touched any of the food.

'I think so.' Rosalie said.

'But no one else does.' Jasper sighed. 'You're all feeling defensive. You feel clearly threatened by her.'

'She's just a human.' Rosalie growled.

'Yes, but, as you can see, humans can affect us greatly, too.' Esme said softly. Everyone glanced at me. Edward nodded.

'We can take care of her when the time comes. She won't try anything tonight.' my vampire boyfriend decided.

'Awesome.' Emmett said, grinning his usual huge grin. He glanced at the cup of punch in his hands. 'The humans have spiked this, haven't they?'

'Yes. Do _not_ get drunk off the human drinks tonight, Emmett.' Rosalie said in a warning tone.

Emmett rolled his eyes. 'I won't get _drunk_... just little crazy.'

He took a swig of the punch, then immediately spat it out. 'Ugh,' he grunted, grimacing. 'That tastes worse than usual.'

'It'll be the punch. It's not _all_ vodka, you know.' Alice smirked.

I chuckled quietly.

**Elena's POV. **

My dance with Damon finished. I stepped back immediately. My heart was beating so fast, I thought it was going to leap right out of my chest. Damon was smirking at me, and I scowled at him.

'Don't look so smug.' I said to him. 'It was one dance. You can be leaving now.'

He paused, like he was considering it, then he shook his head. 'Nah. I'd rather stay.'

'Damon!' I shouted in protest, but he was already walking away, towards the food table... and Jacob. I hurried back to my shape-shifter boyfriend, wrapping my arms around him. I considered it a miracle that he hadn't already shifted into wolf form. 'Just calm down, please calm down.' I whispered in his ear when I felt his shaking.

It gradually faded, but it didn't stop altogether. I pulled back and saw he was glaring something over my shoulder; it didn't take a genius to know that he was glaring at Damon.

'Just stop it, okay?' I ordered in a firm voice, standing between them. '_Stop_.'

Jacob looked at me, and his eyes softened. His slight nod was barely noticeable.

Damon merely smirked in that cocky, arrogant way of his and picked up a paper cup, pouring some punch into is. Raising it to both of us in a mocking impression of his toast, he took a sip.

Immediately, he spat it out and started choking.

'Damon!' I gasped, instinct taking over and making me rush over to him.

'Vervain.' he coughed. 'Vervain.'

Someone had spiked the punch with _vervain_? What the hell? Who would do that here?

I patted him on the back, hard. It didn't seem to do much except get him more annoyed. He was on his knees, coughing.

His gaze flew over to me, his beautiful blue eyes wild and pleading. I could only stand there.

Someone came running over- at first, I thought it was someone who wanted to help. A closer look at the person's face showed me that that wasn't what was happening.

It was Caroline's mom- Sheriff Forbes.

She had a syringe in her hand. Before I could stop her, she stabbed it into Damon's arm, and his choking increased.

'Stop!' I cried. 'What are you doing?'

'He's a vampire, Elena!' Sheriff Forbes replied, taking shackles out of her pocket and fastening them around Damon's wrists. 'He's not a good guy.'

'Please stop.' I pleaded. Warm arms were suddenly around me, pulling me away, and I tried my hardest to loosen Jacob's grip.

As cruel as Damon was being right now, I didn't want to see him get hurt- or worse, killed- by the sheriff.

'Stop!' I cried again.

'Elena, calm down.' a melodic voice chimed to me. I glanced at Alice.

'Please stop them.' I whispered desperately.

Alice looked at me like I was crazy. 'Elena, it's just Damon.'

'I can't let them _hurt_ him!' I protested. I was acting crazy, I knew. But the pulsing lights and loud music were all of a sudden giving me a headache, and all I could focus on was a choking Damon being led out by Sheriff Forbe. It all seemed so surreal, and I knew I had to stop them. 'Please. You may not like him- hell, _I'm _not even hid biggest fan, but we can't just let him die!'

Alice looked at me for the longest time before sighing and nodding. 'We'll see what we can do.'

**A/N: Muahahaha! I'm so evil! Cliffhanger! Sorry to all Damon-Lovers- some action coming soon!  
>Hope you liked the chapter! Thank you all for the amazing reviews- please keep them coming, since they make me update faster! :D<br>~AlisaPhenom. XoXo**


	18. Finding Him

**Chapter 18. **

**Elena's POV. **

We were all gathered in my bedroom. It was a tight squeeze, for sure, but we were managing.

I sat on Jacob's lap on the chair by the mirror, his arms tight around me and holding me to him. Bella was stood with Edward, Esme and Carlisle on the other side of the room. Rosalie and Alice were stood on either side of me and Jake. Jasper was leaning against my door frame and Emmett was lying across my bed playing with one of my teddy bears. I found his position pain-stakingly familiar, but I didn't comment.

We were planning about how to get Damon out of this mess, much to the annoyance of pretty much everyone else.

But what else could I do? Obviously, I couldn't just let Damon get hurt by Sheriff Forbes, and I certainly couldn't let him _die_.

'Well, what is there to it?' Rosalie asked, tossing her long blonde hair over her shoulder. 'We go there, we storm the place, we take the vampire away and viola. Done and dusted.'

'I can name quite a few things wrong with that plan.' Jake said darkly. 'First, we don't even know where they are.'

'But we may be able to follow their scents.' Carlisle reasoned.

'But we mustn't hurt the humans.' Esme reminded us.

I nodded. 'Of course. It's Caroline's mom- killing, even hurting, is out of the question.'

Esme smiled at me, and I returned the smile.

'Right.' Bella said. 'Except what if they're expecting us?'

I frowned at her. 'How would they be expecting us?'

'You,' Rosalie stabbed a finger at Bella, 'You can shut up right now. You're the only reason we're in this mess, so you therefore have no say in what we do.'

Bella blushed and didn't reply, hiding her face against Edward's shoulder. It was starting to bug me the way she did that every time someone confronted her.

'Stop it, Rosalie.' Edward snapped. 'You can't just keep blaming Bella for this.'

'Watch me.' Rosalie hissed.

'Stop it, you two.' Carlisle interrupted. 'We'll get nowhere if we just keep arguing like this.'

'Whatever.' Rosalie muttered, rolling her eyes and suddenly seeming to find her perfect fingernails very interesting.

'First thing's first, we need to find out where they are.' I said firmly.

'That's right.' Jasper said. 'But how do we do that?'

'The scent, remember?' Edward said drily.

'Maybe the dog can sniff them out for us.' Rosalie said pointedly, shooting a smug look at Jake. I felt my hands protectively grip his tighter, and he glared at her.

'Stop arguing!' Esme stressed. 'It's getting us nowhere, and it's not pleasant for any of us.'

'And I thought we'd had enough of the petty name-calling.' I added, raising an eyebrow.

'What?' Rosalie asked defensively. 'I'm just pointing out- if anyone can sniff out the vampires, it's the tracker dog.'

'Rosalie!' Esme chided.

'He's not a tracker dog.' I said.

'I'm going to make a point of ignoring you from now on.' Jake muttered.

I beamed at him. 'See? Rising above it is always the best thing to do.'

'You say that like I should be feeling self-satisfied right now.'

I pecked him lightly on the nose. 'Self-satisfaction doesn't really matter.'

'Anyway,' Emmett cleared his throat exaggeratedly. 'Back to the point.'

'Sorry.' I murmured, resting my head on Jake's shoulder. 'Where were we?'

'Talking about the tr- I mean, _Jacob_,' Rosalie gave a sickly sweet smile that was obviously false, 'sniffing out the sheriff's trail.'

'Good plan. Let's go do that now.' I said quickly.

'Shouldn't we formulate-'

'No, Bella.' I said frustratedly. 'As we speak, Damon's probably going through unimaginable pain. We can't just _wait_.'

She stared at me, and I stared at her. Finally, she looked away and nodded. 'Let's go, then.'

**Jacob's POV. **

_This way, _I thought loudly, pointing my nose in the proper direction. I was in my wolf form, so I couldn't exactly speak... but Edward could hear my thoughts. He was my translator.

'That way.' Edward repeated my thought, pointing the way. Carlisle nodded a silent thanks to be and took off in a blur.

_Am I needed any more? _I asked Edward in my head, eager to get back to the house where my Elena was.

'You'd better come with us, just in case.' he answered, gesturing forwards and then running off in the same way Carlisle did.

Letting out an annoyed growl, I followed him and his family. I told them every time I picked up the scent that belonged to Damon Salvatore mixed with the scent of vervain, and they followed it until we reached the woods.

'Why would they take him to the woods?' Alice asked, frowning confusedly.

'Beats me.' Emmett shrugged.

'Unless wolfy is lying to us, they should be somewhere here.' Rosalie said, glancing at me.

I let out a bark. _I'm not lying_

'He's telling the truth.' Edward translated.

'Great.' Esme grinned. 'Then let's go find them. Jacob, lead the way, please.'

Rolling my eyes, I did so. The scent led me to a small cave- or rather, a hole in the ground. There were steps, whatever it was.

_They're down there... _

'Jacob, are you sure?' Edward frowned.

_This is where the scent goes. Unless I've been following the wrong scent all day, this is where they are. _

'Okay, then.' he said dubiously. 'They're down here.'

'I think I can hear them.' Alice said, tucking a spiky strand of black hair behind her ear.

They went down, and I remained where I was.

_Good... good luck_.

'Thank you.' Edward smiled good-naturedly at me. Then he tossed a pair of denim shorts on the ground by my feet and followed his family down there.

He was gone in a blurred mixture of white and bronze, and I was free to get back to Elena. I phased quickly and pulled on the shorts, thankful that they fit, and then took off, eager to get back to her.

I reached her house in five minutes, breathless from running the whole way there.

Before I even reached the door, it was opened and Elena's smiling face greeted me. 'Hey.'

'Hey, you.' I kissed her.

She pulled away and smiled, then grimaced. 'Thank god you're back. It was getting awkward trying to make small talk with the girl who's so obviously after my boyfriend.'

I frowned. 'What? What's that supposed to mean?'

'I mean, it's obvious that she wants you again.'

'What about Edward?'

'She wants him too.'

'And how do you know this?' I asked.

'I'm a girl- I can sense these things.'

'Blondie told you, didn't she?'

'Rosalie was helpful in gaining this knowledge' Elena admitted, nodding. 'But the facts remain. And, being honest, she can't have you.' she grinned. 'You're _mine_.'

'I'm yours.' I chuckled. 'No one else's.'

'Well, duh.' she rolled her eyes playfully. 'Come on in. Did they find them?'

'They're in the process of raiding the little cave they took him to.' I answered gruffly. I was still a little grumpy that she was so eager to find her own vampire tormentor and save his life, but who was I to object to what my Imprint wants? If it made her happy... how could I deny it her?

'Good.' Elena smiled. 'Of course, they'll outmatch the angry humans any day, and then... yeah. Everything will be fine.'

We walked into the living room, where Bella looked up from her lap and smiled as greeting. 'Hey, Jake.'

'Hi.' I said.

'You got more of a greeting than I ever have from her.' Elena whispered in my ear as we took a seat on the sofa. I chuckled, but disguised it as a cough when Bella looked confusedly at me.

'How did it go?' Bella asked with another friendly smile.

'Wouldn't you like to know.' Elena muttered under her breath, so only I could hear. I couldn't help letting out another laugh.

'What's so funny?' Bella frowned.

'Nothing, nothing.' I cleared my throat. 'It went fine. They found the... place.'

'That's great.' she didn't sound particularly enthusiastic, but oh well. Like I cared much what she thought anyway. 'So... are we on speaking terms now?' she asked, looking hopeful.

Elena raised an eyebrow from beside me, but didn't comment. I looked at Bella for a few seconds, then sighed. 'Whatever. I guess.'

She grinned, then looked at Elena. 'Can we have a few minutes?'

'No.'

Bella's face fell. 'Oh... okay.' a light blush started on her cheeks.

Elena stared at her for a few moments, then stared at me, then sighed and rolled her eyes. 'You know what? Go ahead. I'll be in the shower.'

She got to her feet and went upstairs, shooting me one last _don't-you-dare-do-anything-with-her _look before she left.

Like she even needed to remind me.

'So... hey.' Bella smiled at me.

'Hi.' I said again, furrowing my brow. Didn't we just go through the greetings?

'Everything okay?' she asked awkwardly, fiddling with a strand of her hair.

'Yeah.' I replied. 'Everything's fine. Look... Bella...'

'Don't say anything.' she sighed. 'I know, I've been a real... jerk lately.'

I laughed. 'You've been a _jerk_? Seriously, Bells?'

She grinned at me. 'For lack of better words to use. I'm sorry, for everything. And can you tell Elena that I'm sorry, too? I've been taking it all out on her.'

'Will do.' I grinned. 'Good to have you back, Bells.'

'You too, Jake, you too.'

**A/N: Muahahaha! There you go- 'nother chapter.  
>Anyone else think Bella has an ulterior motive? **Raises hand** Me! Me!<br>Hope you liked the chapter, and thank you for all the amazing reviews and such that have made me seriously happy. Yay! :D  
>I'll update again next week. Enjoy!<br>~AlisaPhenom. XoXo**


	19. How Long?

**Chapter 19. **

**Edward's POV. **

I couldn't help but wince when I heard the shout of agony, and it seems I wasn't the only one. Esme made a small, pitiful sound in the back of her throat and grasped Carlisle's hand tightly, and he put a comforting arm around her.

Sometimes I wondered why a vampire hated other people's pain so much- then I realized. Esme wasn't just a normal vampire- she was _Esme_. Possibly the most humane vampire anyone could ever encounter. In fact, she probably cared more than most humans did.

That's one of the things that make her an excellent mother.

'How do we go about doin' this, then?' Jasper whispered.

'I say we barge in there, take the Salvatore and go. We can dump him somewhere in the woods along the way.' Emmett suggested in a low but excited voice.

'There'd be no point saving him if we dump him in the woods.' Alice said. 'They'd just find him again. I don't need to be psychic to see that.'

'We are _not_ taking him back to the hotel room.' Rosalie said, wrinkling her nose.

'And I'm not letting him go back to Elena's house, either.' Alice frowned. 'She's already getting too attached to him.'

'Then we should take him back to his home. The boarding house.' Esme said, furrowing her brow.

'Okay, good idea. Now let's go in and kick some butt.' Emmett smirked.

'Needless to say, we're not allowed to kill any humans.' Carlisle warned. 'If any blood spills, you must leave as soon as possible to prevent temptation getting the better of us.'

He said it to all of us, but we all knew it was mainly a message to Jasper. He was, of course, the newest to our blood diet, and therefore the most inexperienced when it came to being around a human source of blood and _not _drinking it dry.

The whole eating-animals thing did take some getting used to.

I looked at my family. Each and every perfect vampire face had a grim expression. I knew none of them were keen to do this- risk human lives, even possibly _our_ lives, for the vampire who seemed to enjoy making us miserable? Preposterous. It isn't something you'd ever expect to hear.

Except... it was happening. Ordinarily, we wouldn't do it.

But this wasn't an ordinary circumstance. This was Elena's request, and Elena was a part of our family now- we needed to do this, for her.

After a few more milliseconds of hesitation, we went in.

Sheriff Forbes was stood there, a furious expression on her face, her sharp features twisted in anger. Obviously, Damon had been taunting her. Probably not the wisest move. I could hear her thoughts... _I should have known not to trust him, from the minute I saw him. Everything about him just screamed Vampire. So why did I take the chance? Ugh, I should just kill him... _

Two more cops were stood on the other side of Damon. They were all pointing guns at his almost-unconscious form, the barrels presumably filled with wooden bullets. I wrinkled my nose at the ridiculously strong smell of vervain that filled the room. Obviously, they were using the poisonous-to-vampires herb as a weapon.

And judging by the pain Damon was undoubtedly in, it seemed to be working.

Damon was lying in the floor, surrounded by a puddle of blood. It was his own blood, and it didn't smell particularly appetising. It was strange, to see blood but to not smell the usual sweetness of it. It distracted me for a mere moment before I got back on track and peeled him off the floor. Actually peeled. As soon as I was carrying him, my hands became sticky with his blood.

Jasper, Alice and Rosalie had each knocked the guns out of the cops' hands and had their arms held behind their backs, withholding them and stopping them from fighting back. It looked easy. Alice even dared to put a bored expression on her face as she motionlessly held the struggling officer of the law.

'Hey! Stop!' Sheriff Forbes shouted once she got over the initial confusion of seeing seven white blurs barge in and knock the guns out of their hands.

'We're sorry about this.' Esme apologized.

I ran outside with Damon in my arms. The whole thing had been easy- almost too easy. But I wasn't going to complain. I was followed by Carlisle and Esme, and then Emmett, and then Alice, Rosalie and Jasper. The latter three were each holding Sheriff Forbes and the two other cops, who were shouting and crying out in protest.

'What do we do with them?' Jasper asked, frowning at the thrashing cop in his arms.

'Let them go.' Esme suggested, worry in her voice.

'We can't let them walk away from here with there memories full of us and what we've just done.' Rosalie rolled her eyes. 'We need to make them forget.'

'Well, how do we do that?' Alice demanded. 'They all have strong traces of vervain in their systems. They can't be compelled until that's gone- so how?'

'We... we'll have to wait for it to leave their systems.' I said slowly, frowning. 'But that'll take too long- it could be days before it leaves them.'

'It's the only option.' Carlisle sighed. 'We'll just have to take it.'

'Where do we keep them?' Rosalie asked.

I looked at Jasper. He was holding his breath. He clearly wasn't used to holding a human this close to him- I could tell it was too much for him. His thought practically screamed it.

_Keep them anywhere, as long as it's not near me. I can't stand it, Edward_, he thought to me. I nodded.

'Esme, could you take the human from Jasper, please?' I asked her slowly.

Understanding spread across my vampire mother's face as she nodded and gently took the thrashing human out of Jasper's arms.

'Jasper doesn't want the humans near him- in case he loses control.' I explained.

'That's fine, Jazzy.' Alice told her mate soothingly, rubbing his arm with one hand and managing a thrashing police officer with the other. 'We all lose control sometimes. You'll be fine.'

**Elena's POV. **

I wasn't too happy with Bella- no, not at all.

First there was the thing about her telling Sheriff Forbes about it all. There's also the jealousy that Jasper told me she's been feeling again lately. That bugged me more than I would ever let on.

Oh, and there's also that little thing about her so obviously trying to steal my boyfriend.

Well, maybe that's a little harsh. After all, she has Edward, and, as far as I know, she has no plans to leave her vampire boyfriend any time soon.

But a girl knows things, especially when it comes to other girls. We know when there's someone out to steal our things, and if anything, Bella's definitely trying to gain Jake's attention.

I sat with my shoes on the floor and legs tucked up to my stomach, with my head on Jacob's shoulder. It was comfortable, and all that was left to do was wait for the Cullen's to return with a very much alive- or, I guess, as alive as a vampire can be- Damon.

I couldn't afford to think about the alternative; if, say, they weren't successful in getting Damon back.

But it couldn't be that difficult, surely? They could just go in there, wherever _there_ was, get Damon and then get out. Simple, right? Especially for a vampire.

I wasn't too sure why I cared... except that, well, it was Damon. I couldn't imagine a world without him, even if he was a complete and total ass. But it made me feel guilty, wanting to save him and begging for him to be alive while at the same time holding Jacob's hand and cuddling up to him.

But that shouldn't make me feel guilty. There was nothing for me to feel guilty about; it was just a friend's sadness. Because that's the only way I care about Damon. As a friend.

Right?

I needed to stop thinking about it. Stop worrying. Jacob had told me this himself, several times, and I'd really tried to get my thoughts back on more positive notes, but... every so often, my mind kept drifting back in that unwanted direction. When Jacob gave up trying to get me to stop worrying, so did I. I let my thoughts flow freely.

We waited, me and Jacob and Bella. We waited for what seemed to be a very long time. The party was long over by now, all the guests gone- apart from us, of course.

After what seemed like hours- but must have just been about fifteen minutes- the Cullen's returned.

Empty handed.

Oh, no. Had the worst happened? Had I overestimated them, and they'd been somehow defeated by the vervain-brandishing, gun-weilding sheriff and her men?

But then Edward shook his head at me, and the feeling of dread quickly vanished.

'It worked.' it wasn't a question, but Esme nodded anyway, a smile on her lovely face.

'I still don't see why you were so keen to save him, 'Lena.' Rosalie sniffed, rolling her eyes and examining her perfect nails. 'But we did it for you.'

'Thank you, Rose. Thank you, all of you. I know that Damon isn't, you know... a nice person...'

Emmett snorted. 'You can say that again.'

I gave him a pointed _shut-up _look and he mimed zipping his lips together.

'But thank you for saving him, all the same.'

Even Rosalie had the hint of a smile. 'You're welcome.' she said.

'Where is he?' Bella asked, now sat cuddled up to Edward.

'We took him back to the Boarding House. His brother took him in, and is probably taking care of him as we speak.' Carlisle said in a gentle tone.

I nodded slowly. 'Okay.' I said. 'And what about Caroline's mom? Is she okay?'

Jasper hesitated. 'Define okay.'

I stared at him. 'Oh. Oh, no. Did something happen?'

'Not necessarily.' Carlisle said quickly, shooting a look at Jasper. 'It's just... well, we can't let them remember today's events. So we came up with the idea of compelling them- only, they're on vervain. And another problem is that the only vampires who could actually do it are Stefan and Damon, since I doubt that Caroline would want to manipulate her mother's mind like that.'

I grimaced, remembering a time when she was forced to do just that. 'You're right. She'd hate it. Well, Damon's recovering, right? When the vervain's out of their system, we can just get him to do it. He won't mind, I'm sure.'

Emmett rolled his eyes. 'No, I'm sure he won't. Ellie...'

'What?' I frowned.

'Are you sure Damon would be the best person to do that?' Alice asked gently.

I blinked once. Twice. 'I'm sorry, do you have a problem with him?'

'Only the same problem that _you _had with him about an hour ago.' Rosalie said with narrowed eyes. 'He can't be trusted. We all know that- who knows what tricks he has up his sleeve?'

'Don't say that.' I pleaded. 'Damon's not bad, not really. He just-'

'Elena.' Edward said in a warning tone. 'How about we just get Stefan to do it?'

'That would be more agreeable.' Jacob said in a stiff voice.

I looked at him, then back at the Cullen's. 'Fine.' I said shortly. 'Whatever. Do what you must. Where's Sheriff Forbes now?'

There was a hesitation before Carlisle answered again. 'In the Lockwood Cellar.'

I stared at him with wide eyes. '_What_?'

'There was nowhere else to keep her!' Emmett said defensively.

'Her home, maybe?' I suggested dryly. 'The boarding house? I'm pretty sure Caroline won't be too happy to find out that her mother's locked up in the same place that her boyfriend goes to every full moon to turn.'

'It was the only place we could find.' Esme said, her topaz eyes huge. 'Please calm down, Elena, honey.'

I paused, took a deep breath. 'Okay.' I said finally. 'I'm sorry. I guess I overreacted.'

Emmett snorted playfully. 'You guess?'

I gave him a mock-glare. 'I understand it was the best solution. I'm still not sure how Caroline will take it, though.'

'She'll just have to deal with it.' Rosalie said firmly.

'So, did it go okay?' Bella asked. 'No one got hurt?'

'Not really.' Alice shrugged. 'Maybe there was some minor bruising on some of the police officers.'

I winced. 'Will they be okay?'

'They'll be fine.' Carlisle assured me. 'Do you have any idea how long it will take for the vervain to leave their systems, Elena?'

I hesitated. 'I'm not too sure. Maybe a few days? I think last time it took around four days.'

'Okay then.' was all Carlisle said in response before he took his wife's hand in his and stopped talking.

A comfortable silence followed the exchange. I held on tightly to Jacob's hand, and he returned my grip just as fiercely. One look in his eyes told me that all my wrongdoings in the past hour, all the times I leaped to Damon's defence and seemed to care more about him than I did about Jacob, were forgiven. I gave him a grateful smile and a peck on the lips before snuggling up to him, enjoying his warmth and the quietness around us.

'So,' Alice said finally, breaking the silence. 'Did you enjoy your party?'

**A/N: Ah! Silly me! I'm sorry if there was some confusion before- I uploaded the wrong chapter! -.- Maybe it was just my exhaustion... or my idiotic-ness. Either way, it was a silly mistake, I promise it won't happen again. Here's the REAL chapter, and I do apologize for any inconvenience!  
>There we go. And there's another apology due, I know- I'm SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO sorry that I didn't update! It feels like it's been forever, and you've been stuck on a cliffhanger for freaking two weeks now! I know, it's unacceptable! But my laptop broke, again, and I've had a play to perform for the past week! So, I'm very sorry! I hope you'll forgive me. :)<br>So, moving on. Again. I hope you liked the chapter, despite its questionable shortness! :D More to come next week, I promise. Thank you for the reviews and suchforth!  
>You guys all rock, just to let you know. :)<br>~AlisaPhenom. XoXo**


	20. Losing Her Temper

**Chapter 20. **

**Elena's POV. **

It's been two days since the disaster at the party, and I haven't run into Damon once. Caroline and Bonnie say that he's probably just resting up at the Boarding House; I think he's avoiding me.

I only think that because Alaric told me he saw him coming out of the grill with two pretty blondes on his arm.

Well, it's time that I got over Damon anyway. Today I was going to spend the day with Jacob, and nothing was going to stop us from being together. Not Damon, not Bella, not anything.

'So, what do you want to do today?' Jacob asked me, running his large hands through my hair.

I shrugged, smiling. 'This couch is so comfortable...'

'As happy as I'd be to stay here all day... actually, I can't think of an argument against that.' he said, and we both laughed.

'We could always go to the grill.'

'I'm tired of going to the grill.'

I pouted. 'Fine. We could always...' I smirked. 'Go jogging.'

'And get so sweaty that you feel disgusted by my presence and decide to go running off into the sunset with another wolf? Not likely.'

I chuckled. 'I promise I'll never run off into the sunset with anyone but you.'

'Good.' he said, and I felt him kiss my hair. I sighed contentedly, wishing that we really could stay like this all day.

'We could...' I started, but was cut off by the sound of Jacob's cell phone ringing. I sighed, this time unhappily. His phone had been going off almost non-stop for the past day. 'I think you should just answer it. You can't ignore it for any longer. What if it's Billy, or the rest of the pack?'

He groaned. 'That's what I'm worried about.'

'Answer your phone, then come back to me and we can go to the mall.' I said, disentangling my legs from his and getting to my feet.

He made a face. 'I'd rather go jogging. Shopping sucks.'

I laughed. 'I meant we can go for a relaxing day out. You know, go to a café or something. Then... well, yeah, maybe a little shopping.'

'Great.' he sighed, taking his still-beeping phone from his pocket. 'Don't go anywhere. This'll be quick.'

'I'll hold you to it.' I smiled before going upstairs to change out of my pyjamas into a pair of faded grey jeans and a purple tank top. I was just pulling on my black converse when Jacob came into the room looking apologetic.

Oh, no.

'Elena...' he started.

I held up a hand to stop him. 'Don't tell me. Something's happened back at the reservation, and you need to go back.'

He sighed. 'Kind of.'

I didn't hesitate. 'Well, let me just pack up a few things, and then we can get going. How long will we be, do you know?'

'You can't come.' he said automatically.

I frowned. 'Why not?'

'It's dangerous.'

I snorted. 'Please. Jacob, I can take care of myself now. And besides... I have you.'

'I don't think this is something I can protect you from.' he said tightly. 'Please, Elena. I'll be one day, maybe two at the most. I just need to take care of something...'

'I go where you go. You should know that by now.'

'Elena...'

'I'm not going to argue about this any more.' I said firmly.

'Elena, I don't _want_ you to come!'

I blinked. 'What?'

He looked pained. 'I don't want you to come. I just... want to go back to Forks and sort this out.'

'I don't believe you.' I said. And I really didn't. Honestly, did he expect me to believe him? Honestly?

'You should.' he said.

'We're Imprinted, you idiot. I know when you're lying.'

He hesitated. 'Damn. Should have thought of that.'

'You can't get rid of me.' I smirked.

'Please, Elena, it's dangerous.'

I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him closer. 'You listen to me, Jacob Black,' I whispered. 'You can't get rid of me that easily, okay? I'm your Imprint. You're my wolf boy. If you think I'm going to stay behind while you risk your life doing god-knows-what in Forks, then you're mistaken. Do you understand me?'

He grinned. 'Yes, ma'am.'

I chuckled. 'Good.' I said, pulling away.

'You know, I think I like it when you go all military on me.' he teased, and I laughed.

'Get dressed,' I said. 'And we can get going.'

'To the mall, or to Forks?'

'To Forks.' I said. 'I'll just tell Jenna... something.'

I frowned as I walked away. What _could_ I tell Jenna? Obviously not that we were going because my boyfriend was having werewolf issues.

I found her in the kitchen, yawning and making coffee.

'Jenna?' I said quietly.

She looked up and broke out into a smile when she saw me. 'Good morning... Elena.' she paused for another yawn, and then shook her head. 'I'm not used to waking up this early.'

I laughed. 'It's only eight thirty.'

'Eight thirty!' she said with mock dramatics.

I laughed, and then sobered up when I remembered I was there to tell her that I was leaving her for another two days, max.

'Um, Jenna...'

'I'm making coffee.' she said brightly. 'And I'm about to put some pancakes on. Want some?'

'Jenna, listen. Me and Jake... well, uh, there's something we have to do. In... in Forks.'

Jenna paused. She looked at me, the smile still frozen on her face. 'What?'

'We kind of need to go back to Forks.'

The smile fell. 'Why?'

'There's... uh... okay. So, we need to go back to Forks, because we... want a romantic day out together.'

'Seriously?'

'Yeah. Well, it's kind of a road trip, you know? We're going to drive to Forks, then come straight back. I promise.'

'Why Forks? Why can't you have a romantic day out in the Grill or something?'

'Jenna. Did you actually just think about that sentence?'

There was a pause. 'Good point. But... Elena, seriously, I've been trying to be a good motherly parental figure lately. What kind of motherly parental figure would I be if I let you go back to Forks with your boyfriend?'

I frowned. 'A good one?'

'No.'

'_Please_, Jenna?'

'I said no, Elena. Have some coffee, have some pancakes, and think of something else to do.'

'Don't you trust me?'

Jenna rolled her eyes. 'Oh, don't play the trust card with me, Elena Gilbert.'

'Trust card?' I asked. 'Seriously? Why can't you let me go for just one day with my boyfriend? You know, I was counting on you to be good enough to let me go!'

'Elena Gilbert-'

'Stop using my full name!' I yelled. 'I'll see you tomorrow, Jenna!'

'I said you _can't_ go!'

'Well, I'm going anyway! You can't stop me!' I said angrily, turning on my heel and stomping off. I turned back just before I left. 'Have fun being a motherly parental figure.'

**Jacob's POV. **

We didn't need to have our link for me to know that Elena was mad. I could hear her and Jenna yelling from her room, and it made me feel unbelievably guilty to know that me and my stupid pack were the reason that she was having an argument with her aunt.

She came storming back into the room with a furious look on her face. 'Are you okay?' I asked immediately.

She looked at me. 'Of course I am.' she said acidly. 'Why wouldn't I be?'

'Hey, hey.' I soothed, taking her into my arms and stroking her hair. 'It's okay. Why were you fighting?'

She sighed. 'She wouldn't let me go.'

There was a silence as I waited for more. It didn't come, and I frowned. 'That's it?'

She tensed in my arms. 'You expected more?'

'Oh, come on, honey. You caused the house to start shaking because of a teenage tantrum?'

She yanked herself out of my arms. 'Ex_cuse_ me?' she demanded, putting her hands on her hips. 'It isn't a teenage tantrum, Jacob. And I didn't make the house shake.'

'You nearly did.' I said, frowning. 'Are you feeling okay? It's not like you to lose your temper like this-'

'I'm fine, Jacob. Just let me pack.' she sighed.

'I thought you said you weren't allowed to come.'

'So?' she rolled her eyes. 'I'm still coming.'

'Your aunt will be pissed. Are you sure that's a good idea?'

'I don't care what she thinks, Jacob!' she huffed, storming into the bathroom.

I stood still, staring after her. Slowly, I shook my head. 'O_kay_...' I sighed to myself. 'Must be a girl thing.'

She was in there for a while before I heard the sounds of retching. I dropped the pillow I'd been holding and rushed into the bathroom immediately, concerned. Elena was on her knees in front of the toilet, emptying the contents of her stomach into the bowl.

I rushed to her side and pulled her hair from her face. She barely glanced at me until she was finished. Instantly, she reached up for her toothbrush, a grimace on her face.

'Are you okay?' I asked her as she squeezed some toothpaste onto the brush.

She nodded as she started to brush her teeth.

'What was that about?' I asked. I waited for her to spit out the toothpaste so I could get an answer, and she merely shrugged.

'I don't know.' she admitted. 'Maybe I ate something off or something.'

'Or maybe you're ill.' I said, putting my hand to her forehead. Not that my unnaturally hot hands would be able to make out her temperature as anything but cold.

'Or maybe I ate something off.' she repeated, smiling. 'Honest. I'm okay. Thanks for your concern.'

'Are you feeling better?'

'Yes, Jake, I'm fine.' she chuckled. 'Could do with some pancakes and coffee, though.'

'And... are you still mad?'

She shrugged. 'I'm upset. I thought Jenna trusted me more than that. And _you_- don't even get me started on you.'

'_Me_?' I asked incredulously. 'What have I done?'

'You took her side!' she said accusingly, narrowing her chocolate eyes.

'There are sides now?'

'You were more supportive of my aunt than me. I mean, come on, Jake, I'm your Imprint. Shouldn't you back me up in things like this?'

'Let's _not_ have an argument about this.'

'You're right.' she said. 'Let's not.'

We packed in silence after that.

**Caroline's POV. **

I was hanging out with Alice at the grill- I'd found a real friend in the tiny vampire- when Elena came to see us, a worried look on her face. I was instantly concerned- it wasn't the worried look that bothered me. It was something else, something I couldn't place.

'Are you okay?' I asked her.

She simply shook her head and sighed. 'I think me and Jake just had our first argument.'

My eyes widened. 'Seriously?'

'What about?' Alice asked, a frown on her perfect pixie face.

She hesitated. 'Just... stuff. Anyway, that's not what I came to ask you about.'

'What?' I asked.

She scratched the back of her neck and stayed silent.

'Is this about you and Jake going back to Forks?' Alice asked innocently.

My eyes widened even further, and Elena's practically bugged out of her skull. 'How did you...' she started, but stopped herself and rolled her eyes. 'You had a vision?'

Alice looked smug. 'Well, I had a vision of you coming here to tell us.' she did an exaggerated bow. 'You can't get anything past Alice Cullen, psychic vampire extraordinare.'

We all laughed.

'So, why are you going back to Forks?' I asked with a frown. 'Aren't you going to stay here for the full two weeks?'

'Of course I am.' she answered. 'We're just going temporarily.'

'Why?' Alice asked. 'I couldn't see that part- the dog was blocking my view.'

'Alice.' Elena said in a warning tone. Alice just rolled her nearly-black eyes, and I realized that she probably needed to hunt soon. I decided that I'd ask if she'd come with me when Elena was gone. I was getting pretty hungry, too, and the Cullen's made surviving on animals actually sound like fun.

Well, apart from the taste. But you apparently get used to that.

Something was still bothering me about Elena, though. I couldn't place it, and it frustrated me that I didn't know. 'Elena, are you okay?' I asked. 'Apart from your lovers' tiff with Jacob?'

She hesitated. 'Well, I threw up this morning.' she let out a shaky laugh. 'I'm okay now, though.'

'You threw up?' I exchanged a look with Alice.

It definitely wasn't sickness that was bothering me. But _what_? Ugh, I just wanted to tear my hair out. As if responding to my thought, my hand flew to my blonde locks and pushed them behind my ear.

Elena waved her hand dismissively. 'Like I said, I'm fine. We're setting off for Forks in a half hour- why don't we get some breakfast while we're here, before I go? I'm starving.' she laughed and patted her belly, and it was then that I realized what was bothering me.

It was the tiny, tiny heartbeat coming from Elena's belly.

The tiny, tiny heartbeat that could only belong to a baby.

**A/N: Dun dun dun! x) I am sorry about the cliffhanger. I couldn't resist.  
>Anyway, hi. :) Sup? It feels like it's been a long time.<br>I hope you liked the chapter! Sorry that Jacob and Elena had a tiff- it was the hormones of the baby, I swear. x)  
>So, Elena's got all preggers. Le gasp. And what does everyone think has happened at La Push? Le gasp again. They'll be leaving next chapter, so, yeah. :)<br>Please review, and thank you to everyone who already has!  
>See you next Sunday- or sooner! It is the Christmas holidays, after all. No school, woo!<br>~AlisaPhenom. XoXo**


	21. Secret Keeper

**Chapter 21. **

**Caroline's POV. **

I watched as Elena left to grill, then took a few panicky breaths.

She was knocked up! Pregnant! She was carrying a freaking _baby_!

My best friend... the four year old girl who, along with Bonnie, was the only one brave enough to approach her in kindergarten and steal her doll. Was that really so long ago? Was that same little girl who was now going to be a mother?

Be a mother... it was something that I could never do.

'Caroline?' Alice's worried voice interrupted my frantic thoughts. 'Are you okay?'

'Didn't you hear it?' I demanded.

'Hear what?' she asked, brow furrowing. Then understanding spread across her face, and she shook her head. 'Elena told me once that your kind of vampire has stronger senses than mine. You must have heard something that I didn't... what was it?'

'It's Elena.' I took another unnecessary deep breath and closed my eyes. 'She...'

'She what?' Alice asked, putting an icy cold hand on my shoulder. 'Calm down, Caroline, and tell me what's wrong with Elena.'

'She's pregnant, Alice.' I whispered. 'She's going to have a baby.'

There was a pause, before Alice let out a squeal. 'Oh, that's wonderful!'

I looked dubiously at her. 'It is?'

'Yes!' she insisted. 'This is amazing! Oh, Rosalie will be so happy, she's always wanted a child...'

'But she's just a teenager.' I said miserably. 'She's the same age as me. She's just eighteen, Alice, and she's going to be a mom.'

'She can handle it.' Alice said confidently. 'If anyone can, it'll be Elena. I promise.'

I smiled. 'What, have you had a vision?'

She rolled her eyes and pursed her lips. 'No. Must be because it's the mutt- I mean, Jacob's baby. It's confusing, but only a little bit, really. Ooh, there's going to be a half-shapeshifter baby in the family... that's a new one.'

'I should have told her.' I groaned, pressing a hand to my forehead. 'She'll kill me if she finds out I knew before she did and never told her.'

'You could call her now.' Alice suggested. 'Or better yet, just run out there and tell her.'

'Because that'll go down well. _Oh, hey, Elena, wait! I forgot to tell you in there, but you're knocked up- I know, because I can hear its heartbeat in your stomach! Congratulations! _No, I think we should just... wait for her to find out herself.' I closed my eyes.

I was thinking of, of course, the time in middle school when me, Elena and Bonnie were all talking about what it would be like, being a grown up, having jobs and families and the freedom that all other adults have.

'_I want kids,_' Elena had said dreamily, '_And a nice husband, not like any of those jerks in our class. Well, apart from Matt... he's different._'

'_You're only saying that because you have a crush on him._' Bonnie teased.

Elena had looked mortified. '_Am not_!' she'd insisted, despite the fact that Bonnie's words had been true and just a few months after that conversation, Matt had asked Elena out and she'd immediately said yes. '_I'll have more than one kid, I think. And I'll be a writer- I can write stories, just like my mom does. Will you two promise to be the bridesmaids at my wedding? And you can each be the godmothers of my children, if you promise that I can be the godmother of one of yours._'

'_Who else would it be?_' I'd giggled.

If I'd had that conversation with Elena just a week ago, would she have said the same thing? If someone had told her she'd become a teenage mother in just nine months, she would laugh in their face and them to get lost.

I hoped that she'd be okay with this...

Or maybe I was overreacting. This was Elena, right? She'd dated a vampire, been the object of another's affections, found out she was adopted and met her psychopathic vampire mother and her vampire-hating father- had watched them _both _die-, had survived the car crash that her parents had died in, had been the target of an incredibly powerful Original vampire, had met her crazy vampire doppelgänger and had moved to Forks and taken up residence with a family of new vampires, as well as become the soul-mate of a shape-shifter.

Something told me she could handle whatever the world threw at her from now on.

**Elena's POV. **

I sighed as I gazed out of the window at the scenery that passed by in a green blur. Me and Jake were just entering Forks, after being on the road for a good three and a half hours.

'Finally.' I'd commented dryly upon seeing the small, _Welcome to Forks, _signpost.

Jake had chuckled and said that it would have taken even longer if he hadn't been breaking the speed limit.

'So, are you going to tell me what the problem is yet, or am I left to carry on guessing?' I asked.

Jake just looked at me, a lazy smile spreading across his face. He mimed zipping those lips shut, and I rolled my eyes.

'Please?' I asked, widening my eyes slightly and putting on my best pout.

His eyes softened but he just laughed and shook his head before returning his eyes to the road.

'We'll be there in five minutes. I'll drop you off back at my house where you can have some quality bonding time with Billy, AKA your future father-in-law. It'll be fun. Meanwhile, I can get on with this _problem_ with the pack. When it's solved, we can take another long drive back to Mystic Falls and live happily ever after in the sunny village of Mystic Falls.'

I laughed. 'Village?'

'It's small enough to be one.' he shrugged.

I grinned, and then sighed. 'Do you think we ever _will _get our happily ever after?'

'What do you mean by that?'

'I mean, things are always getting in the way, aren't they? Every time we're happy, or are even close to having a perfect moment... its ruined. Like today, for example.'

He frowned. 'I'm sorry if I ruined your day.'

I rolled my eyes. '_You _didn't ruin my day, Jake. Your pack didn't, either, I understand that duty calls, but... I'm just saying, it would have been nice to have the day to ourselves, that's all.'

'We have plenty more days to have to ourselves, though, right?' he looked at me with his brow furrowed.

'The rest of our lives.' I nodded. 'But... oh, nothing. Forget I said anything.'

'That was... morbid.'

I stuck my tongue out childishly. 'Shut up and drive.'

'Isn't that a song?'

'No.'

'I'm sure it is...'

'Shut up, Jacob.'

He held a hand up in mock defeat, but kept the other one firmly on the wheel, much to my relief. 'Okay, okay, I get it. Stop talking.'

'But you can carry on talking if you want to tell my why we're actually going back to Forks in the first place, you know. I have no objections.'

'Well, no.' he gave me a wolfish grin. 'But can I carry on talking to tell you how much I love you, despite your verging-on-bipolar mood swings?'

I smacked his arm. 'I am not bipolar!'

'_Verging on._' he rubbed his arm. 'I said _verging on_. I also said _I love you_.'

I chuckled. 'I love you, too. But seriously, I'm not bipolar.'

'I never said you were.'

We kept up the easy chatter for the rest of the journey until Jake pulled up near his house.

'Feel good to be back?' I asked him, observing him as he stared at his house, his home.

'Kind of.' he smiled at me, planting a kiss on my nose. 'Wait there. I'm going to speak to my dad.'

I frowned. 'Why can't I come?'

'Because I'm also going to be speaking about pack business with him.' he said, already starting to walk off.

'Hey!' I called after him. 'Jacob Black, you turn around right now!'

He turned around, an almost sheepish look on his face. 'Yes, honey?'

'You remember the bonfire we went to together, two weeks ago?' I asked him, crossing my arms defiantly and looking him square in the eyes. No way was he going to get away with keeping me in the dark.

'Of course I do.' he replied immediately, smiling. 'How could I forget?'

'Well, then, you must remember Sam saying that, as your Imprint, I was now a rightful member of the pack, too, right?'

He hesitated. 'Elena...'

'Does Emily get to come to pack meetings, Jake? I bet she does. Does Claire? Do any of the other Imprints?'

There was a long pause. 'Sometimes.' he finally admitted.

'Will they be there today?' I demanded, not breaking eye contact... oh, those beautiful dark eyes of his... I blinked, and then frowned.

'I don't know.' he sighed.

'It's not fair, you know.' I continued. 'You not telling me all this. Were you actually planning to make me _stay_, like a dog?'

'Okay, okay, I surrender. Please stop making me feel guilty. You know I didn't mean any of it like that, Elena.'

'I know you didn't.' I beamed up at him. 'And besides, it's all okay, because you're going to be completely honest with me from now on, aren't you?'

The hesitation made me narrow my eyes at him. '_Aren't you, Jacob_?'

'Yes.' he answered automatically. His arms wrapped around me and my feet left the ground as he held me in his arms, planting kisses on my neck. I smiled. Finally. 'I am never going to keep you in the dark again, okay?'

'Damn right you're not.' I mumbled, taking his hand in mine and reluctantly pulling away from him. 'Now explain.' I ordered.

He sighed and ran a hand through his short dark hair. 'Okay. Right. Well... there's this vampire after Bella. Did anyone tell you about this?'

'It depends which one.' I snorted. 'There seem to be a few.'

He grinned at me. 'A red-head, calls herself Victoria.'

I recalled the Alice telling me about a vampire called Victoria once, along with two others- they'd gone after Bella, apparently. 'Yeah. Alice told me. What about her?' I frowned. 'Is she...?'

'She's back in town. We've chased her out twice now- the pack did it without me yesterday, but... they need me for this, Elena. They need full force to drive a vampire like her out.'

'Right.' I sighed. 'So this Victoria chick wants to kill Bella, and you're stopping her. Sounds like a perfectly reasonable excuse. But... why didn't you want to tell me?' I asked, tilting my head to the side.

There was a long pause before Jake spoke again. 'Because it's about Bella.' he said lowly. 'I know how you feel about her- I know that you feel... threatened by her. I just...'

'You just thought it'd be better to keep it a secret, like it was something actually worth hiding.' I guessed, a hint of bitterness creeping into my voice. 'I get it, Jake. It's fine.'

'Jacob!' the loud voice of Billy Black interrupted whatever response Jake had been about to give. We both turned to see him wheeling down the ramp at the front of his house towards us. 'Elena! You made it!'

'Of course we did, dad.' Jake said gruffly. 'When duty calls...'

'Oh, give it a rest, Jake.' Billy rolled his eyes and smiled at me. 'Nice to see you again, Elena.'

'You too, Mr Black.' I replied politely.

'Call me Billy.' he said. 'Come on in. It looks like the rain's about to start again.'

A single glance upwards told me that he was right- the fluffy white clouds that we'd had in Mystic Falls had, somewhere along the way, been replaced by stormy grey clouds. There was not a hint of sky to be seen.

'That's... slightly depressing.' I murmured, following Billy into the house. As soon as I stepped in, I was greeted by the delicious, musky scent of forests and pine needles that I always smelt on Jake. It looked just the same as it had when I'd last visited- had I really expected it to? Had I really expected that the whole of Forks would be so different after being gone for just a few days?

'The rest of the pack will want to see you right away.' Billy was saying to Jake. 'They'll be glad you're here.'

'Right.' Jake muttered.

I smiled a small smile as I watched Jake go to the fridge immediately- him and his large stomach. It was a wonder that he managed to maintain the amazing body that he did... then again, didn't all athletes need to take in lots of pounds before their workouts? So that they had fat, instead of muscle, to burn off? Maybe it was the same with Jake- maybe all the stuff he did in his wolf form could measure up to the energy taken from an Olympic sprint.

'You want a snack, Elena?' Jake asked, looking back at me as he took out some peanut butter and jelly, asking Billy to pass him the bread.

I started to refuse, and then paused. Actually, the thought of a good PB+J sandwich sounded... amazing. 'Sure.' I said quickly, getting up from my spot on the couch to watch him prepare it. Funny. I hadn't thought I was actually very hungry.

'Let's see who can eat this faster.' Jake suggested, holding his sandwich in his hand near his mouth.

I rolled my eyes. 'Let's not.'

'Oh, come on.' he grinned. 'It'll be fun.'

I sighed. 'Sure.'

I ate the sandwich quickly, but, of course, Jacob ate his faster. It was funny, how something as simple as eating a sandwich could be turned into a competition with my Jacob.

'I'm glad you let me come with you.' I murmured, leaning into him.

'I'm glad you convinced me to let you.'

'I'm glad you're so obedient.'

'Don't push it. I might bite.'

I laughed. 'Oh, will you?' I teased, waggling my eyebrows.

He chuckled, his lips close to my ear. 'Shush.' he whispered. 'My dad's in the other room.'

'Well, I guess we'll just have to wait until later.' I smirked.

Then came the knock at the door, and, without even waiting for Jake to answer it, in came Sam.

'Jacob.' he greeted. 'Finally.'

**A/N: Meh... I've had better chapters.  
>I'm sorry, okay! School's just started again, and I'm bumming out because of that... :(<br>Hope you liked the chapter! Please review. :)  
>Oh, and by the way... I wanted to change my penname. I'm getting kind of sick of people calling me Alise... IT IS NOT MY REAL NAME. I SWEAR. ;) Suggestions? Should I change it at all? Let me know please!<br>~AlisaPhenom. XoXo**


	22. On Patrol

**Chapter 22. **

**Caroline's POV. **

'I can't believe we're actually doing this,' I muttered, scanning the web page for anything useful about shape-shifter pregnancies.

'Neither can I.' Alice giggled. 'But it's fun to see what some people have to say about it.'

We were actually doing it. We were researching shape-shifter pregnancies with humans- not your normal daily activity, but whatever.

'How do we know if any of it's actually true?' Bonnie asked with a frown. Myself and Alice had spilled the secret to Bonnie a few hours after we found out ourselves.

I shrugged. 'Instinct?'

Bonnie just pursed her lips. 'Well, I hope some of _this _isn't true. Look.'

I looked at the page on her laptop and my lip immediately curled in disgust. There was a picture of a heavily pregnant woman in labour, her face scrunched up in pain, giving birth. The head of the 'child' was showing- it was a mutant puppy. That was the only way to describe it, really. There was a mutant puppy sticking out of the woman's _down there_ area.

'Ew.' I muttered, reading the text underneath it. It was all a load of garbage. Who came up with this stuff?

'The worst part it, I can't see _anything_ about it.' Alice murmured grumpily, folding her arms over her chest, glaring at the wall. She looked somewhat like an angry kitten when she took on that expression- furious, yet completely harmless.

But I knew that wasn't true. Alice was still a vampire, still deadly. Just like me.

We continued to search, and search, and search. Every time we found something that could have been remotely true, we made notes of it.

After about an hour of researching, I looked through the notes we'd made.

_Baby will spend only one month in womb before being delivered?  
>Baby will take on shape-shifting ability?<br>Birth will not harm mother in any way?  
>Pregnancy will be more painful than usual?<br>Or will it be _less_ painful than usual?  
><em>

And that was it. They were the only plausible ideas we had gotten.

'Looks like poor Elena's going to have a confusing time.' Bonnie said, sighing. 'Do you think any of these are true?'

'I guess we'll find out soon enough.' Alice said.

'I hope she'll be okay,' I mumbled, shutting down my laptop as Alice and Bonnie did the same. We were all sprawled on my bed.

'We all do.' Alice said. 'Don't worry. Shape-shifter births can't be that bad- after all, there are still far too many of them in the world.'

I cracked a grin. 'True... true.'

**Elena's POV. **

'You chased her all the way to Canada?' I asked with a frown.

Sam nodded solemnly. 'But she got away. I have a feeling she's going to come back soon, maybe tonight, and we need all the force we can get to take her down once and for all.'

'Sounds like a plan.' Jacob said, leaning back on the couch and slinging an arm around me. 'So you lied when you said I'd be needed here for just a day.'

'It wasn't necessarily a lie,' Sam said sheepishly, 'Just... not necessarily the truth. But it could be- it all depends, Jacob.'

'I get it.' he sighed.

'Jake, don't be so rude.' I scolded.

He grinned wolfishly and rolled his eyes while Sam laughed out loud. 'Yeah, Jake, don't be so rude.'

It was the first time that I'd ever seen Sam act so... carefree, despite the fact that it was now more than ever that he had reason to be tense and worked-up. Whenever I'd seen him before, he'd seemed so uptight, so moody. Now, that wasn't the case. He was talking and laughing with me and Jacob like we were true, close friends.

'How's Emily doing?' I asked casually.

An almost dreamy smile spread across Sam's face. 'She's doing great.' he said. 'We're getting married.'

My eyes widened, and so did Jake's. 'Really? Oh, Sam, that's great! Congratulations!'

'Yeah, congrats.'

Sam's smile remained for a few more seconds before it disappeared again. 'But this is all the more reason why we need to get rid of the red-headed leech. I... I can't let her get anywhere near us again. I don't want Emily getting hurt, or anyone else.'

'Of course.' Jake said. 'I guess we can do that.'

'Is there anything I can do to help? With anything? Anything at all?' I asked, feeling like I wasn't quite doing enough here. Jacob was promising to take out Victoria, Sam was taking care of his pregnant Imprint... and what was I doing? Oh, yeah- sitting here and being a nuisance.

Sam looked at me, then at Jake, then back at me. 'Be there for him.' he said, before getting to his feet. 'I'll go now.'

And go he did. I was left confused- be there for him? I already was, wasn't I? I frowned to myself and then looked at Jake, who was looking at me with the same confused expression.

He then shrugged. 'I don't need looking after, 'Lena.'

I smiled. 'Are you sure about that? You're like a baby... or a puppy. Yes, you're my puppy. Of course I need to look after you.'

He grinned. 'Woof woof.'

**Jacob's POV. **

The day in Forks passed quickly. I had to admit, it felt really good to be home. Mystic Falls was nice and all... but nothing compared to the feeling of being back in the reservation, with my dad and the pack and, most importantly, with Elena.

Soon enough, it was time for me to go out on patrol with Sam, Quil, Jared, Seth and Embry. Elena was asleep in my bed. I barely resisted the urge to reach out and touch her smooth cheek while she slept; she looked so peaceful, so beautiful.

Taking one last look at her sleeping face, I turned and walked out of my house. I went behind a bush and shifted into my wolf form, and immediately the sound of the voices of the other pack members rang in my head.

_Jake, take the west side of the forest. Be alert, _that was Sam's loud, commanding voice.

_Will do, _I replied. I started running out to the forest. The trees blurred past me as I ran- oh, I had missed this.

_Hey, Jake, _I could hear the grin in Seth's mental voice. _Having fun there? _

_Hey, Junior. _

_How's Elena doing? _

_I'm doing fine, thanks, _I thought teasingly.

_And Elena? _He pressed.

_She's fine, too. _

_Great. How's Mystic Falls been treating you? _

_All right. Did you guys miss me? _

_Kind of. Leah's been saying how much happier things are without you and your angst around, but I know she missed you. _

I gave a bark-laugh, _Right. _

_Enough chit-chat, ladies, _Embry's voice interrupted.

I rolled my eyes. _Hello to you, too. _

Our conversation, though, was soon cut off when I saw a white and orange blur streak through the forest.

_There! She's there!_ I reached out to the other wolves, and the response was immediate.

_Don't let her get away! _Sam ordered. They were all heading my way.

I ran as fast as I could, a menacing growl sticking in my throat as I chased the vampire. The sound of melodic laughter reached my ears, but it only spurred me to go faster. I had to get her, had to kill her, had to stop her...

She was heading for the reservation.

The growl came out louder and my pace became even quicker.

'Catch me if you can!' I heard the vampire's voice call out teasingly. My ears were flattened against my head, my teeth bared in a flat-out snarl.

_Oh, you bet I will. _

_Jake, don't do anything rash! _Embry's warning annoyed me. What was I _supposed_ to do, sit there and let her get away?

No. I couldn't let her get away, not again.

She was headed to the house... oh, no. Billy. Elena. All the other people and pack members who lived in or near the reservation.

_Hurry up! _I thought-yelled angrily. At that very moment, I heard five sets of quick, thudding footsteps beside me. They were with me- good.

We broke through the trees, and Sam overtook the rest of us. His pace quickened and he had nearly caught up to the leach when she suddenly veered left- away from the house. I let out a relieved yelp, unable to help it; thank god.

_Don't slow down!_ Sam ordered.

We chased, and chased, and chased, until we ended up on the edge of Forks' neighbouring town.

She had gotten away... again. Another growl escaped me.

We were all disappointed and angry as we returned.

_We almost had her, _Seth ranted furiously.

_I know, _I thought miserably, padding along next to him.

The rest of the night's patrol was spent miserably thinking of ways we could have beaten the red-head.

Not the most fun way to spend a night.

**A/N: Hello there one and all!  
>Sorry, I just really wanted to say that. x) I hope you liked this chapter!<br>Please review, and thank you if you've already done so, and woo! New chapter! :)  
>See you all next week... when you will know why I am so excited. ;D<br>~AlisaPhenom. XoXo**


	23. Furious Aunt

**Chapter 23. **

**Elena's POV. **

'Look, Jenna, I'm really sorry for yelling at you.' I sighed through the phone, giving Jacob a _hold-on-a-second-while-I-sort-something-out_ look.

'I'm not mad at you for yelling at me!' she fumed. 'I'm mad that you completely disobeyed me and went to Forks with some guy! Without my permission!'

'I'm sorry for that, too.' I said, a note of misery in my tone. I was going to get in so much trouble when we got back... even more than I already was.

'Sorry just doesn't cut it this time, Elena!' Jenna yelled. 'I thought this phase was over- this wild, sneaking out phase! I thought it passed when your parents did, Elena! Why is it suddenly back?'

I winced at the mention of my parents. Okay, so Jenna was _really_ mad- it was only when she got really mad, like she seemed to be now, that she brought up my parents. 'There was just... something we had to take care of over here, me and Jake. It's really important.'

'Oh, right, that _boy_- he's the reason you're over there in the first place.' I could practically hear Jenna rolling her eyes.

_Typical Elena, _she would be thinking. _Always giving everything up for whatever cute boy she sees._

'I'm over here because I want to be, not just because Jacob's here.' I hissed, even though that was a lie. I _was_ only here because Jake was...

'What's so important, then, that you'd head back to Forks without my permission?' she asked, considerably quieter now.

Well, this was where it got complicated. We never had actually figured out what lie to feed Jenna about this- neither me or Jake could figure it out. We'd given up, eventually. To be honest, neither of us had been expecting a furious Jenna to call and verbally rip me to pieces.

'Just... you wouldn't understand.' I sighed and shook my head, looking at Jake again.

'_Sorry._' he mouthed apologetically, with the look of a sheepish dog who had chewed too much off the sofa or something.

'_It's okay._' I mouthed back. I couldn't help but smile at him.

'I wouldn't understand.' Jenna scoffed. 'I _don't_ understand, Elena. Why do you... ugh. You know what? Never mind. Just get your ass back here right now so I can skin you, all right?'

I hesitated. 'Sure.' I said finally. Another lie. Jake was scheduled for another patrol tonight, so we obviously couldn't just leave. But if saying that meant that Jenna would get off my back for another few hours... well, who was I to say no? 'I'll see you later, Jenna.'

'You'd better be here.' she said in her best strict-mother tone. 'If you're not... you'll regret it.'

She hung up. I swallowed hard. Right. I'll regret it... whatever that's supposed to mean.

'She thinks we're coming back.' I told Jake, sliding the phone back into my jeans pocket. 'That'll give us another few hours before she yells at me again, at least.'

Jake hesitated. 'Maybe you should go back, Elena.'

I stared blankly at him. 'But you have a patrol tonight. You can't abandon your pack, Jake, and I was stupid to try and make you.'

'Not me... just you. I don't want you getting in any more trouble- your aunt sounded furious.' he added when I opened my mouth to object.

'She'll get over it.' I promised, unsure if I was telling the truth or not. 'She always does.'

Jake raised an eyebrow. 'Experience?' he guessed.

'Oh, yeah.' I smiled. 'You know me- a bad girl through and through.'

He smirked back and I felt his arms wrap around my waist. 'Oh, I know.'

I pressed a kiss to his mouth, twining my fingers through his hair. I let out a small moan, not caring about anyone who might hear us. Right now, this was what I wanted. My legs went around his waist and he pulled my closer. We both got lost in the moment. Jake's fingers went to the buttons on my grey blouse, and then...

His dad came into the room and cleared his throat loudly. We stopped immediately, both our heads whipping in Billy's direction.

He raised his eyebrows at us, a surprisingly stern look on his face. Behind him was a pretty olive-skinned woman, who was staring at us with a similar expression to his.

'Uh... hey dad.' Jake said. I withdrew my legs from around his waist and jumped down to my feet, letting my hair fall in front of my face to hide the god damn blush that was rising.

'Jacob, Elena.' Billy rolled his eyes. 'Sue's here.'

The woman called Sue dropped her stern expression, settling for looking amused. 'Oh, how nice it would be to be young again.' she looked at me with a smile. 'I don't believe we've met. I'm Sue Clearwater.'

'Nice to meet you.' I smiled at her, still a little embarrassed. 'Elena Gilbert.'

'Ah, you must be Jake's Imprint.' her smile widened.

Jake let out a quiet groan of humiliation from beside me, and I subtly elbowed him in the ribs. Well, as subtly as you can with that kind of thing.

'Yeah.' I said, rubbing the back of my neck. Clearwater, Clearwater, how did I know the name Clearwater... oh! 'You must be Seth and Leah's mom.'

'You know them? I hope they're being nice to you.' she said, nodding.

'Oh, they are.' I grinned.

Sue beamed, and then looked at Jake. 'I hope you two are behaving for your old father.'

'I'm not old.' Billy protested, grinning widely.

'Oh, I'm sorry, honey, I forgot. You're not forty-two, you're just twenty-one twice.' Sue laughed.

'Exactly.' Billy said, chuckling. He looked at us, giving Jacob a stern glare. 'Sue's staying for dinner.'

'Got it.' Jake said, tugging on my hand. 'We'll see you at dinner.'

We went to his room, Jake pulling me by my hand. I laughed when we reached our destination.

'Why does the moment always have to get ruined?' Jake moaned.

I sighed and wrapped my arms around his broad shoulders, letting him hold me in a warm embrace. 'This is fine for me... just this.' I sighed contentedly.

'I'm sorry for getting you into trouble with your aunt.' Jake said quietly after a few moments of nice silence.

'I'm sorry for getting you into trouble with your dad.' I replied, smirking.

His hand rubbed my back. 'You're just a bad influence.' he teased. 'Seducing me like that, in broad view of my dad and Sue.'

'Behaving badly is something of a hobby for me.' I murmured, smiling.

**Bella's POV. **

'Remind me again why we're doing this.' I sighed as Alice dragged me, Caroline, Rosalie and Bonnie to the mall.

'It's a secret... for now.' Alice said, exchanging a wink with Caroline, who grinned in return.

'Yeah.' the young blonde vampire tossed her hair over her shoulder, blue eyes sparkling with excitement. 'A secret.'

'You can tell me, can't you?' Rosalie asked with a pout. She looked genuinely upset that they had kept something from her.

'And you can obviously tell me.' Bonnie smiled hopefully.

'And me.' I added.

They all looked at me.

'You do know that you're just here because Alice predicted that you'll see this very cute red blouse to replace the one that you lost?' Rosalie asked, looking down her nose at me as usual.

I frowned and looked at Alice. 'Really?'

She hesitated. 'Rosalie kind of understated the cuteness of the blouse.'

'So you don't even want me here.' I said, staring at them all.

None of them replied; Caroline twiddled her thumbs and looked away, Rosalie snorted and rolled her eyes, Alice looked down at her Jimmy Choo heels, and Bonnie let out a short, innocent whistle.

I let out a cold laugh, more like a sharp exhale, in disbelief. 'So none of you want me here, and yet you dragged me out anyway.'

'Again, the blouse...'

'I don't care about the stupid blouse, Alice!' I yelled.

She frowned at me. Then her face turned blank, and I recognised the signs of her going into a vision. After a few seconds, she snapped out of it and stared at me. 'You know, you're right, Bella.' she said, her voice hollow. 'You can head back to Edward. It's fine.'

'But...' I trailed off, hurt. I'd thought Alice, at least, was my friend. Maybe she was just still angry with me for the Sheriff Forbes thing. But they couldn't hold it against me forever, could they? They'd have a really long grudge to hold if they did.

'Go home.' Rosalie snapped. 'And curl up with Edward, like usual.'

I'd had enough of Rosalie snapping at me for no reason. 'No.' I answered back, folding my arms over my chest. 'I'd actually like to go the mall today, whether it's with you or not.'

'Bella, really.' Alice said quietly. 'I think you should go.'

I didn't reply; I just quickened my pace and walked ahead of them, entering the large glass doors of the Mystic Falls mall.

Oh, what had I just done?

**Alice's POV. **

I stared after her.

Oh, that _girl_! She was going to get herself killed!

'Bella, wait!' I called after her, running and easily catching up with her. 'You don't understand. You _can't_ go into that mall today.'

'And why not?' she demanded, glaring at me.

I was tempted to just let her go in anyway; who cared if she got herself killed? It was her mistake. But I knew I couldn't do that to Edward, so I had to stop her. 'Because if you do, you're going to die.' I replied honestly, not breaking eye contact.

She stared at me for a few moments before snorting. 'Seriously, Alice? I know you're mad at me, and I know I'll probably cramp your style if you're seen with me, but threatening me? Really?'

'I'm not threatening you!' I said, exasperated. By now Rosalie, Caroline and Bonnie had joined us. 'I'm telling you what I saw!'

'Right.' she shook her head disbelievingly and turned again, walking away. 'Maybe I'll see you inside or something.'

I was about to go after again when Rosalie gripped my arm and turned me round to face her. 'What did you see?' she hissed. 'I thought you were telling her to go because you saw her ruining the whole day or something... but what's this about her dying?'

'I saw Victoria.' I replied in a whisper. 'Victoria's here today, and she's going to kill Bella.'

**A/N: Dun, dun, dun!  
>Sorry. x)<br>UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE WOO.  
>I'm hyper on chocolate and nuts, I'm sorry. And, of course, I'm listening to the brilliant Lana Del Rey, so I'm both happy <span>and<span> hyper. Woo!  
>I hope you liked the chapter, please feel free to review, as a birthday present for Wednesday! :D Thank you for reviewing, reading, adding to favouritesalerts and being alive.  
>I'll see you next Sunday!<br>~AlisaPhenom. XoXo**


	24. Fight! Fight! Fight!

**Chapter 24. **

**Alice's POV. **

'Bella!' Caroline yelled, running in after her, followed instantly by the rest of us. 'Bella, no, wait!'

'Listen, Bella.' I caught up to Bella instantly, grabbing her arm and turning her around. 'You have to go, okay? If you carry on, you're going to die.'

'Enough with that, okay?' Bella snapped. She opened her mouth to continue, but seemed to get distracted by something. Her mouth stayed open and her eyes widened. 'V-V-' she stammered.

I whirled, scanning the entrance behind me with narrowed eyes. I heard the tell-tale sounds of a vampire running around, but I saw nothing. Panicked, I turned back to Bella. 'Go.' I told her desperately. 'Run!'

She nodded blankly as I let go of her arm and let Caroline take it, leading the human girl back out of the mall. I ran out at a painfully human speed after them, only to be tackled to the ground as soon as I had stepped foot outside.

I hissed and immediately threw the red-headed vampire off me. She growled at me and then took off running- after Bella and Caroline. I got to my feet quickly and jumped on Victoria's back from behind, wrapping my arms around her neck and twisting, trying to squeeze it right off her neck.

Humans were gathering around us in a crowd- I didn't care. Victoria snarled and threw me off her, and I went skidding across the ground. I heard a yelp that sounded like it came from Bella, and I got up once again and started running towards them, not bothering any more to keep up the human façade. We could get Caroline to compel them later- once Bella and the rest of the town was safe.

Angry as I may be with the girl, I couldn't just let her die.

Caroline had let her vampire face shine through her human one and was trying to claw at Victoria's face, while Bella got up from the floor and started to run away. Growling in frustration, Victoria knocked Caroline aside and started running after Bella.

I heard the sounds of a frightened human in the crowd talking to the police, asking them to send the town sheriff out- I turned to glower at him, and he dropped the phone in fright. The voice on the other end of the phone continued speaking, then asked if he was still there.

They were sending Sheriff Forbes out right away. Damn it.

Rosalie had intercepted Victoria now, and kicked the red-headed vampire backwards. Bonnie closed her eyes and started to mutter a chant in a language I recognised as Latin; she was using a spell. Good.

_Let's hope a witch's powers are as good as everyone seems to think they are... hurry, Bonnie... _I thought to myself as I moved to stand over Victoria and pulled her up by her hair, before swiping out at her, aiming to take her head off but ending up merely scratching the air as she ducked her head out of the way.

Rosalie came up from behind Victoria and delivered a swift kick to her back, making the now-furious vampire turn round and wrap her hands around Rosalie's throat. She was trying to rip my sister's head off. I growled, angry, and jumped on her back again, placing my hands over her eyes, blocking her vision. She thrashed, tried to throw me off, but I held on. Looking out to the distance, I saw Bella turn round with wide eyes before continuing to run away, presumably to Edward.

'Get out of here, Victoria,' I snarled. 'You've lost.'

'Get- off- me!' she raged.

I registered the sound of more inhumanly fast feet running up behind me, accompanied by a familiar but unwanted smell. My eyes widened as I was pulled off Victoria's back and thrown across the ground.

I glared up at Katherine and stood. She smiled widely at me, and then the sound of a police car filled the air. I froze, and so did Katherine. Rosalie and Victoria stopped struggling with each other, and Bonnie stopped her chanting.

_Whatever she was trying to do, it didn't seem to work, _I thought bitterly, in reference to the witch whose eyes had flew open.

Victoria smiled darkly. 'See you around.' she waved, and then she was gone before any of us could stop her. Katherine whipped her head around, looking appalled.

'Looks like your buddy left you, Katherine.' Caroline taunted.

'And it looks like your mother's about to stick you in an underground dungeon and try to kill you, Blondie.' Katherine retorted angrily.

Caroline's smile fell and her face paled. 'Oh, no!' she cried. 'My mom-' she turned to look at the stunned crowd. I saw her pupils dilate as she said to them in general, 'You saw nothing here. We weren't here.'

I was surprised that it worked. I looked questioningly at the blonde, and she shrugged. 'Group compulsion. It's difficult, but so much easier than individual.'

'Freeze! None of you move, or I'll shoot!' a strong female voice shouted from behind us. Caroline groaned and hid her face. Rosalie rolled her eyes and muttered something about stupid humans and their police. Bonnie joined Caroline in hiding her face. I froze, not moving a muscle.

So, Sheriff Forbes had been compelled and let out of the Lockwood cellar after her little attack on Damon Salvatore. Elena would be pleased... but it wasn't exactly great right now. At least she had no memory of us being vampires.

'Do you think she's started taking vervain again? Would it be safe to try and compel her?' Caroline whispered to me, barely moving her mouth.

'I don't know,' I answered honestly. 'Your senses are stronger than ours- see if you can manage to sniff her blood. See if it has any vervain in it.'

Caroline nodded just slightly, and then subtly sniffed the air. Then she frowned. 'I can smell vervain... but I don't know if it's in her blood or in her gun.'

'Damn it.' I muttered. 'If she's taken the precaution of putting it in her gun, then no doubt she will have put it in her system. I wouldn't try it if I were you. We'll just have to weasel out of it another way.'

'If you come up with anything, please, do share it.' Katherine hissed. 'And, by the way, the answer is yes. She has definitely consumed vervain in the past twenty-four hours. Why would she have stopped?'

'Long story- and not one we're going to share with _you_.' Caroline spat, and then we all fell quiet as Sheriff Forbes approached. I risked a glance back, and saw her staring at us, then staring at the crowd and telling them to go, that there was nothing to see here. Reluctantly, the crowd dispersed.

'Oh, god.' I muttered, closing my eyes as Sheriff Forbes approached.

Caroline turned to her mom hesitantly. 'Mom?'

The sheriff's eyes widened. 'Caroline?' she asked. 'What are you... what's going on?'

**Elena's POV. **

I sat at the dinner table quietly, putting a forkful of steak into my mouth. 'This is a delicious dinner, Mr Black.' I said politely.

'Billy.' he corrected. 'Call me Billy- it makes me feel less old.'

I smiled. 'Right. Billy. Sorry. This is a delicious dinner.'

'Thank yo-'

'Don't you go taking the credit for my cooking.' Sue interrupted Billy Black in a scolding manner. She then looked at me with an amused smile. 'Thank you, honey.' she said.

I chuckled, then frowned as I felt a sharp pain in my stomach. 'Ow.' I muttered, folding a hand over my belly.

'Are you okay?' Jake asked, sounding concerned.

'I... yes, I am.' I said, getting to my feet. 'Excuse me- I need to use the bathroom.'

Not the most polite thing to do- I almost wanted to add, _Oh, and I promise this is nothing disgusting to do with my bowels- you see, I've been getting these annoying pains in my stomach for about an hour now, and it's getting both really frustrating and really painful. _But I didn't say that, of course. I was never one to cause a fuss, really.

I walked away and out into the bathroom, where I leaned against the closed door with closed eyes and my hands on my belly. _Probably just period pains or something, _I assured myself in my mind. _Nothing to worry about... better make sure I stay away from those vampires for a week. _I added jokingly to myself.

Another pain, sharper this time, made me double over. This couldn't be normal... simple period pains had never been like this before.

A knock on the door startled me. 'Elena, are you okay?' Jake asked.

'I'm fine.' I said to him through the door. 'Won't be a minute.'

'You're in pain.' he replied. 'I can feel it... what's happening?'

Another pain. I let out a low moan. 'It hurts, Jacob.'

That was it. The door burst open and Jacob was holding me by my shoulders. 'What hurts?' he demanded, scanning over me. 'What's happened?'

'My stomach.' I closed my eyes. 'It's- it's gotten worse, over the past hour.'

'What, you're having pains?'

'No, I'm having a tea party.' I snapped.

'Okay- okay... what do I do?'

'I'll be fine after a few painkillers.' I said, breaking out of Jacob's hold and going over to the box of medical supplies that the Black family handily kept on top of the toilet.

I promptly dropped to my knees and threw up- luckily, I only made a _slight_ mess, as the toilet was underneath me anyway. Jacob rushed over and held my hair away from my face while I threw the remains of Billy and Sue's delicious steak dinner down the toilet.

'Sorry,' I croaked when I finished, wiping my mouth and grimacing at the taste in my mouth.

'You're definitely not okay.' Jake said firmly, 'I'll get you a toothbrush, then I'm getting Sue to look at you.'

'Thanks.' I said quietly, using a tissue to mop away the mess on the side of the toilet seat. 'It's nothing against your dad and Sue's cooking, by the way... it really was delicious.' I added as Jake returned with a spare toothbrush he'd found in his room.

'I'm sure they won't be offended.' he murmured as I brushed my teeth.

I spat into the sink, then grabbed the bottle of mouthwash on the bathroom shelf and swigged a mouthful, swirling it around my mouth as I glanced at Jacob. Once more, I spat into the sink, then smiled. 'Well, the pains are gone. Maybe it was just bad food or something.'

'Okay, so don't say that to Billy and Sue, or they _will_ be offended.' he joked.

I grinned. Then I frowned. 'Jake... is there something wrong with me?'

'I don't know.' he replied in an uncharacteristically quiet voice. I damn well hope not.'

'You'll stay with me if there is, won't you?'

'Of course I will.' he frowned. 'I'll always stay with you, Elena.'

I sighed. 'My Jacob.' I murmured, running a hand along his face.

He smiled. 'My 'Lena.'

He leaned in for a kiss, but I stopped him. 'I wouldn't,' I advised him. 'I still have vomit breath.'

His nose wrinkled. 'Oh. Ew.'

**A/N: I have finally updated! :D If you want to see the full excuse for the posting delay, please see my profile. If you don't, please accept my deepest apologies here. Feel free to give me a virtual slap in the face. :)  
>Thank you for reading, reviewing, alerting, favouriting, and, you know, staying alive. (Ah, ah, ah, ah, STAYIN' ALIVE... sorry.)<br>I shall now drink more Lucozade and write more chapters for various stories. Have fun lives! Hope you all had a great Valentine's Day!  
>~AlisaPhenom. XoXo <strong>


	25. Thief in the Night

**Chapter 25. **

**Caroline's POV. **

I closed my eyes, wishing that I could be anywhere, anywhere at all on this planet, apart from where I was at that moment. 'Hi, mom,' I said weakly, finding nothing else to say.

I opened my blue eyes again, gauging my mother's reaction. She was staring at me, brow furrowed, mouth hanging open. Then, oh so slowly, her eyes slid away from me and landed on Katherine, who instantly gave my mother a charming smile. 'Hello, Mrs Forbes,' she greeted cheerfully, sounding- much as I hate to admit it- just like Elena in her tone of voice. 'You look well,'

'Excuse me?' my mom's eyebrows flew practically to her hairline.

Seeing this, I quickly intervened, 'Mom, I swear that this isn't what it looks like,'

_Thank god she doesn't remember the incident with Damon, _I thought to myself, pursing my lips.

'Then would you mind explaining just what it is? I got called here because of a fight,' she demanded, eyes darting back to me, disappointment shining in them. 'A fight between some... weird people, who could do... weird things,'

I scrambled for something to say. Nothing came. After a few moments of heavy silence, Alice said gently, 'Sheriff Forbes, we weren't doing anything wrong,'

'I'll believe it when you give me a damn good explanation,' my mother snapped.

I winced. That tone was bad news- it was the tone she would always use when scolding me if I ever broke a toy or drew on a wall when I was little. It meant that whoever she was talking to was in deep, deep trouble.

Gulp.

'We came here to go shopping, you see,' Rosalie said slowly, her beautiful face perfectly composed, 'And it was as we were heading into the mall that we saw a woman here, with red hair. She was fighting with another girl... I'm pretty sure you've seen her before,' a wicked smirk sprung onto the blonde's face. 'Bella Swan?'

I heard Alice give an almost inaudible groan. Katherine let out a tiny chuckle, and Bonnie turned to stare at the Cold One with wide eyes. I barely resisted the urge to slap my forehead.

'Rosalie,' Alice said out of the corner of her mouth, lips hardly moving, the sound coming from her lips undetectable by humans, 'this would be the time to put aside petty grudges and leave everyone we know out of this,'

Rosalie's answer was to smirk even wider. She continued, this time more quickly, her voice holding the confidence that she'd probably had all along, 'The red-haired woman was beating Bella up pretty bad, and Bella was just taking it. Then Bella started to fight back. She punched the woman, and I'm not kidding when I say that I think the red-head's nose was broken, as well as Bella's hand, and then they both ran away when they noticed the crowd and the sirens,'

My mom, thankfully, looked doubtful. 'Is that true?' she asked, turning to me.

I bit my lip. What to do... try to think of a better lie, that _wouldn't_ get an otherwise innocent person in trouble with the law, or play along to spite Bella?

I smiled innocently. 'Yes, mom,' I said. 'We ran in to stop them, but that was when you arrived.'

'Elena?' my mom asked, this time turning to Katherine. I rolled my eyes, looking away as Katherine flashed another pearly smile.

'It's true, Mrs Forbes,' she said, 'sorry to waste your time.'

'No, no,' my mother, to my surprise, smiled warmly. 'Not at all. Did you get a good look at the red-haired woman?'

'Well,' Alice said, glaring at me, Rosalie and Katherine for a second before looking back at my mother. 'Her hair was, as previously stated, red. It was also really wild and curly, down to about her mid-back. Her skin was very pale, and that's all we could see, really.'

Sheriff Forbes nodded. 'And this Bella Swan? I'm afraid I don't know her,'

Before anyone could reply, Rosalie said quickly, 'Brown hair, brown eyes, kind of pale, has a kind of gormless look about her,'

Alice scowled at her sister. 'Rose, don't be so harsh,'

'Can you think of a better description?' Rosalie asked innocently.

Alice turned to Sheriff Forbes. 'She has brown hair, a kind of chestnut colour. Almond-shaped brown eyes, fair skin. She does _not_ have gormless look about her-'

'Questionable,' Rosalie interjected.

Alice ignored the interruption, 'And she's about the same height as Elena,'

'Right,' my mom said, almost wearily, glancing between the two Cold Ones, 'Got it. Do you know her current location?'

'I assume she'll have gone back to her hotel with her boyfriend,' Alice said.

'If Victoria hasn't found her and killed her already,' Rosalie muttered under her breath.

'What was that?'

'Nothing, Sheriff,' the blonde smiled sweetly. 'Will that be all?'

'Stay out of trouble,' my mom warned, looking between us all with narrowed eyes that were filled with suspicion. Then she returned to her car, giving us all one last searching glance, and drove away.

I instantly let out a breath that I didn't know I'd been holding. 'That was a close one,' I breathed.

Alice immediately turned on Rosalie, 'What did you have to tell her that for?' she snapped. 'I was already working out a plan in my head- a good one!'

Rosalie chuckled, 'It'll be funny to see Bella's face once the Sheriff starts questioning her, though,' she said.

Bonnie laughed. 'Oh, you're evil,'

Rosalie flipped her golden locks over her shoulder, smirking. 'I know,' she said, as if it were a compliment. Which it probably was.

'I hate to interrupt,' Katherine spat suddenly, looking between us all with an expression of loathing. 'But-'

'And _you_,' Alice growled before the Petrova doppelgänger could finish what was likely a threat, '_you _are the most evil, calculating, backstabbing _bitch _who could possibly exist! You were working with Victoria the whole time, weren't you- what, did you strike a deal with her? What was it, Pierce? You trade in Bella's life if she helps you slaughter some puppies?'

Katherine smiled coldly. 'Close. Replace the puppies with Elena Gilbert, and you'll have it spot on,' she gave an elegant wave, 'See you around.'

And, before any of us could stop her, the 500 year-old vampire was gone.

Bonnie scowled in the general direction that she had gone. 'Whore,' she spat.

'Well said, Bonnie,' I grinned at my friend.

She smiled back. 'I always wanted to say that to her.'

**Elena's POV. **

'And why are you asking me about this?' I asked, frowning. I was on the phone to Stefan, who had called me a few hours after the semi-disastrous dinner asking if I knew where Katherine had disappeared to this time. Pfft. Like I'd actually know. He seemed worried, though, and I didn't have the heart to tell him to leave me the hell alone. Even after he'd left me for my psychopathic body double.

'She's been gone for days, Elena,' he said urgently. 'Days! I haven't seen or heard from her at all since she disappeared,'

'Have you tried calling _her_?' I asked, resisting the urge to roll my eyes.

'Obviously.'

'Right. I take it she hasn't answered.'

'Again, obviously. Are you going to be actually helpful, Elena, or should I call someone else?'

I raised an eyebrow, thankful that Jake wasn't here to witness me being talked to like an eight year-old. Never before had Stefan acted so bluntly and impatiently with me.

'Fine,' I snapped back. 'Go find someone else who'll help you- or do you have any friends left after you abandoned everyone to be with your _one true love_?'

He didn't reply for a few seconds. Then he said quietly, 'I'm sorry, Elena. Please, help me find her.'

'No,' I answered stubbornly. 'Trust me, Stefan, Mystic Falls is better without her.'

'But I love her,' he replied pathetically.

I rolled my eyes. 'Goodbye, Stefan,'

Then I snapped my phone shut and stuffed it back in my pocket, hands shaking with anger. He actually had the nerve to call me, after not even speaking to me for so long, and ask where Katherine was? He actually had the nerve to do that, while simultaneously treating her like a stupid child? I briefly wondered what I'd ever seen in him, then I cursed that thought. There was, of course, a time when Stefan had been the sweetest boy alive. It wasn't _all _his fault that he was this way now; it was mostly Katherine's influence.

It was his fault for going crawling back to her, though.

I closed my eyes, breathing in the fresh air of the La Push beach. I'd come down here on my own, wanting to cool off after the incident at dinner and be alone with my thoughts. It probably would have been a good idea to leave my phone in Jake's room, though- then I wouldn't be interrupted with pointless phone calls.

I exhaled deeply, opening my eyes again, looking over the beach. It really was a beautiful place, even in cold weather. Just being here brought back wonderful memories; mine and Jake's first date, my first meeting with Jake... Jake, Jake, Jake. It seems that a lot of my happy memories are to do with him.

I smiled gently to myself, standing still and letting the breeze play with my hair. Never before had I felt so utterly relaxed.

_I wonder what it would be like to have children running around here. _

The thought flashed through my mind quicker than lightening, but I caught it and held onto it, eyes widening slightly in surprise that I'd actually thought that. Children... with Jake... it was something that a few people had brought up. I'd always liked the idea of children... but I'd always thought about having children when I was thirty, not eighteen. No, it was definitely too soon now. I shook the thought away and returned to my happy place.

_Hmm... a day out with the girls sounds like a nice idea. Maybe I've been spending too much time with Jacob lately... I know _I _hate it when Caroline or Bonnie ditches me to hang out with their boyfriends. Do they hate it, too? Yes, I should definitely arrange something with them- and with Alice and Rose, too. Maybe... maybe I could even invite Bella, and try to get along with her... _

I sat down on the edge of the shore, running my fingers through the cold sand. Bella. Bella, Bella, Bella. What was happening with her? Elena always had thought of her as a friend- maybe a friend who wasn't as reliable as maybe Caroline or Bonnie, perhaps, but still a friend. But after hearing what Alice and Rosalie had to say, and even seeing for my own eyes that Bella still had interest in Jacob as more than friends... could I really trust her?

After a long while of mental debate, I decided that I should at least try to get along with Bella. I closed my eyes again, the peaceful smile returning. It was dark, now, but I felt completely safe with the waves and the sand for company.

Then there came a wave of pain, even worse than before, in my stomach, making a surprised whimper escape my lips and my body jolt upright. I clutched a hand over the area, face crumpling.

Way to spoil a moment, stomach.

It was then that a red and white streak blurred past me. I jumped to my feet, alarmed, and then I heard another blurring noise behind me- startled, I whirled, trying to get a good look at the intruder.

And then an icy cold hand was wrapping around my mouth, stopping the scream that had built up in my throat from getting past my lips, and a painful strike to the head made the world fade to black.

**A/N: I couldn't resist- I need action. Even I'm getting bored with it, and it's my own story. -_- I may have a problem...  
>Anyway! I hope you guys liked the chapter- sorry, once again, that it's so late.<br>Now. Here I bring up an important matter- reviews. Thank you everyone who has left one. Other writers know how great a feeling it is when you see that people actually like your stories enough to leave a comment. It's awesome. But lately... and forgive me if I sound greedy/selfish/stupid/an idiot/insert whatever insult you please, but... lately I haven't been getting many. It makes me sad. :( See? That's a very sad face right there. What would make me very happy indeed would be if I got at least a hundred reviews for this story. What would make me absolutely thrilled would be if I got a similar number of reviews for this story as I did for Finding A Home, but since that isn't likely to happen because in this story I'm not asking you to review with the name of your preferred partner for Elena, I digress. Please review. :) Thanks!  
>Okay, so, yeah. See you guys on Sunday.<br>~AlisaPhenom. XoXo**


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